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Moonshiners Season 10 Episode 11
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00:00On this episode of Moonshiners...
00:10I need a couple of pallets of jars if you got them.
00:13A can of jars. You can't even get a jar lid.
00:15The mason jar is a quintessential vessel for moonshine liquor.
00:19I've got 20 customers that this is going to.
00:22I don't know how I'm going to get it to them without jars.
00:25We got four posts in the ground, Bubba.
00:27We ain't got no roofing material right now.
00:29This roofing, it's close to $1,000.
00:31We done bought that one time.
00:33He wants us to go over there and get that roofing material over on that other man's land at the old steel site.
00:38I tell you what, I'm not too keen about what's going on.
00:40I ain't neither.
00:41But I'd be down if I'm going to let somebody stop me from getting what's mine.
00:44Turn it down, Chuck.
00:46All right, here we go.
00:47Today is our first run of Bolly Mock.
00:50We actually got something that we think is going to sell, but we need to make big quantities of it.
00:55A lot of steam going up here.
00:58I don't know if that's working like it's supposed to work or not, Chuck.
01:02It's all blowing out the roof out there.
01:04This is how we make the moonshine.
01:08Hey, listen.
01:09You hear that?
01:10It makes sense of a damn tractor.
01:11It can burners.
01:12That's a damn tractor coming around here.
01:13Oh, my God.
01:14He's coming in here.
01:15In severe county, Tennessee, after starting an overnight run in an unused barn, Mike and Jerry face a moonshiner's worst nightmare.
01:30Getting caught mid-run in the light of day.
01:31I hope you open the back of your door to the back of the building.
01:32I do own the land and everything, but I'm renting it out to the farmer right now.
01:33Right.
01:34He catches it and he calls the law.
01:35This phone call never happened.
01:36This phone call never happened.
01:37I do own the land and everything, but I'm renting it out to the farmer right now.
01:41Right.
01:42He catches it and he calls the law.
01:43This phone call never happened.
01:44What the hell's this guy doing, Jerry?
01:45No.
01:46No.
01:47No.
01:48No.
01:49No.
01:50No.
01:51No.
01:52No.
01:53No.
01:54No.
01:55No.
01:56No.
01:57No.
01:58No.
01:59No.
02:00No.
02:01No.
02:02No.
02:03No.
02:04No.
02:05No.
02:06No.
02:07No.
02:08No.
02:09No.
02:10No.
02:11He sees us...
02:12Get out, get out.
02:19What is he doing?
02:23I don't think he's just taking overhauling his tractor out here.
02:33Man, this is just too bad that I got him closed for comfort.
02:38Get the hell out of here, dude.
02:42Get his ass on that tractor and get out of here.
02:50I can't believe he's leaving, man.
02:51I think he's gone, brother.
02:55Man, I don't think he worked there.
02:56It was too damn close.
02:58I can't believe we even damn doing this.
03:01Man, we got to rip me just run off and get out of here.
03:03Finally, this guy gets up on his tractor.
03:05He rolls right on back out the same way he come.
03:07We got to get this thing wrapped up and get the hell out of here.
03:10That was too close for comfort.
03:11And I mean, he could come back at any time.
03:14I'm not doing this no more.
03:16I'm done with it.
03:19Last one right here.
03:20We can get the hell out of here in just a little while.
03:22We're not out of the woods yet.
03:23We're sitting here in broad ass down daylight.
03:26We still got to get this alcohol out of this barn,
03:28get everything loaded up, get the hell out of here
03:30without being seen.
03:37We're just shy of 50 gallons.
03:39But it's an averaging 180 proof product here.
03:43It's enough for us to temper down and get the hell out of here.
03:46At least we got the damn liquor.
03:48That's right.
03:49I hear a big diesel are coming.
04:05You know who that is.
04:07He can't sneak up on nothing, can he?
04:08Nope.
04:10In neighboring Cock County, Tennessee,
04:13Mark and Digger meet up with their new associate, Daniel.
04:16What's going on, Slam?
04:18Daniel said he had a little something
04:19we might be interested in.
04:21I got something I want to show you guys.
04:23He's been working with us for a while,
04:25selling a lot of corn liquor.
04:26We have no idea what's going on.
04:28Daniel just said, bring a wheelbarrow.
04:29In the name of sense, the whole bed's full of wheat bran.
04:33500 pounds of it, to be exact.
04:37My buddy, he uses that to feed deer.
04:39When he got his supply in this year,
04:41they brought him away too much.
04:43He was just going to throw it out on the ground
04:44and let it rot, and I said, oh, no.
04:47All old timers used to use bran, you know, for a cap,
04:50and then make that CO2 work harder.
04:51Plus, it'll help a flavor of liquor.
04:53We've been known to make other grains other than corn.
04:55Wheat bran makes damn fine liquor.
04:57We can utilize this if that's what Daniel's got in mind.
05:00There's 500 pounds of it.
05:02We put 25 pound in a barrel.
05:04That's 20 runs of liquor, Daniel.
05:06I wrote it.
05:07This could be as much as 360, 380 gallons of liquor
05:11if things go well.
05:12I tried out 25 grand.
05:14That's a lot of dollars.
05:16It's a lot of dollars.
05:17It's going to be a hell of a lot of work.
05:19Next time you get us something to tote in the woods,
05:22if you can't, just 100 pounds of it instead of 500.
05:25The more the merrier when it comes to supplies
05:27to make liquor, though.
05:28I understand.
05:29Homemade liquor drinkers aren't unlike anybody else.
05:31They like something a little different occasionally.
05:33A lot of people are drinking barley and wheat and other grains.
05:36We can make liquor about anything that ferments.
05:38What's this shovel for?
05:40Is that in case the revenue man comes in so we can bury him?
05:42Maybe.
05:43I've got the 100-year-old grain grinder,
05:45and, man, it works real good.
05:47Set it on that old barrel right there.
05:49Yeah, man.
05:49I actually fashioned a washing machine motor only to power it,
05:52and I worked with the pulleys until I got the right speed
05:56to where it cracks the grain real good.
05:58All right.
06:01You have to help this start because of the gear ratio on it.
06:04I've got it geared to where it runs slow.
06:06You know, it's hard to believe that 100-year-old grinder
06:08still works, ain't it?
06:10They made stuff to last back in them days.
06:12Daniel got kudos on coming up this rash.
06:14He bought it at a yard sale.
06:16I'd go get me one, too, if I could find it.
06:18I can't get over how quiet it is.
06:20This thing looks like it's 100 years old.
06:23It's slow, but it's constant.
06:25You don't have to grind it manually.
06:26Man, I think it's great.
06:28I got that perfect.
06:30Well, we got a five-gallon bucket here.
06:31We need it four times, you think?
06:33Yeah, about four times.
06:34That'll be enough.
06:35Sounds good to me.
06:36We're going to put the sugar in these totes.
06:38So we're going to mash in two totes
06:40with four five-gallon buckets, the Busted brand,
06:43and six bags of sugar per tote.
06:45Mark, I'm fixing to bring you your first bucket.
06:47All right.
06:48Bring it on, brother.
06:49Here you go, old buddy.
06:50There's the first one.
06:52Easy now.
06:54Man, you can look here at what Daniel's done for us.
06:56He sourced the grain on his own.
06:57He's come up with a machine to bust up in the kernels with.
07:01You know, Daniel's knocking it out of the park for us.
07:04Here we go, boys.
07:05This is number four.
07:06You're grinding.
07:06We're dumping.
07:07Yeah.
07:08We've got the steel pot heating up
07:09with water in it to steep the grain in.
07:11We've got grain and sugar in the totes ready to go.
07:14All I have left is what's in this bin will be done.
07:17It's all we need.
07:18As soon as this water gets up to where it's nearly boiling,
07:20we'll pump that over.
07:21That ought to be plenty enough water to steep this grain.
07:24Look here at the steam coming off that, boys.
07:26You can just set that pump on top of it.
07:28Digger's got a better head than every one of us.
07:30I don't like saying that out loud.
07:34Got them over there.
07:35Looks like two monkeys trying to fornicate a football.
07:38There we go.
07:39Play it to it.
07:40We'll let it steep overnight.
07:42Let it get plenty of cook time on that grain.
07:45We really want to get all the flavor out of that.
07:47You know, corn liquor, it's got a little sweet essence.
07:49Using a little more grain with this wheat bran,
07:52it should bring a little more of an earthy note to the liquor.
07:55I'm going to start pumping the hot water over into this one.
07:58Yeah, boy.
07:59If we've got our measurements right,
08:01we could possibly go to 20, 24 runs of mash
08:04on this wheat bran alone.
08:05Let's cover them up.
08:07This bran, who knows?
08:08You never know how it's going to turn out
08:10until you put it in the pot and cook it.
08:11Boy, the rains are coming.
08:13It is, ain't it?
08:13Pretty good day, wasn't it?
08:15Oh, yeah.
08:27This is where this guy's got a bunch of tanks and stuff.
08:30You know, I'm just looking online
08:31and looking at pictures and stuff,
08:32so I always like to put my hands on it.
08:35One state to the northeast in Virginia,
08:38Tim is on the hunt for the right equipment
08:40to make his new specialty moonshine.
08:43I don't know if anyone has made a single malt barley moonshine before.
08:49It looks like a salty milkshake to me.
08:51Chuck and App did some experimental batches
08:53with the small steel in the woods.
08:55Pretty good, Chuck.
08:56I think it's a little better and pretty good, Tim.
08:59We actually got something that we think that's going to sell,
09:02but we need to make big quantities of it.
09:04In order to do that, we need a new steel.
09:06Kevin.
09:08Kevin.
09:09There, Kevin, I was looking for you.
09:10Kevin is the guy that I've been talking to
09:13about buying the equipment.
09:14Well, I'm looking for a tank.
09:15Like a 350, 400 gallon something.
09:20You know, and this guy has all kinds of scrap tanks.
09:22Different things I can take and do something with.
09:25That's another round tank right there.
09:27Motors, pumps.
09:29Look at that, they put a worm on the outside the tank there.
09:31Yeah, evaporators, cooling coils, even some parts of steels.
09:36Hey, you got a column steel.
09:38Came out of a local distillery.
09:39This is the part that the column sits on top of.
09:43Oh, how much does something like that cost?
09:46$160,000.
09:48Oh, no.
09:49It looks pretty, but that's how it might rain.
09:51Show me a tank.
09:53This tank here is a 350 gallon open top.
09:58Oh, yeah.
09:58This bottom down there, okay.
10:00It's an insulated tank.
10:01It's like it's got a jacket around it where you can heat it up.
10:05I wouldn't have to build a coil to go inside of it.
10:07Yeah, Tim, you want to come look at this?
10:10It looks like some potential leak part.
10:13Oh, yeah, I see right here.
10:15I can see a hole in it.
10:17That means if it's weak like that up here,
10:20it's probably weak everywhere else.
10:21Yeah, it probably got over pressurized or something.
10:24I mean, look at that.
10:25I mean, I can open that up with my knife.
10:28I don't want one that's going to add more problems to my situation.
10:31I don't want to get into having to fix it before I build it.
10:35All right, show me something else you got.
10:37Okay.
10:39What in the world is this thing?
10:41That's an insulated tank.
10:42We call it the pickle.
10:44The pickle?
10:45Yeah.
10:46I ought to buy that for tickle.
10:48That'd be a camouflaged steel, wouldn't it?
10:49That's right.
10:50You could set that up in the woods and wouldn't nobody even know what it was.
10:54A pickle for tickle.
10:55Here's a tank I had in mind for you, about 450 gallons.
10:59It's got a top on it.
11:01It's got a nice base on it.
11:02It's closed on the top.
11:03It's got a little manhole.
11:04You can open it up and look inside of it.
11:07Yeah.
11:08It looks like something I can make into a steel.
11:10I guess you take a check, won't you?
11:12Yes, we'll take a check.
11:13Good, good, good.
11:15Let's go figure out how to get this on a trailer.
11:17Okay.
11:18I didn't want to leave, you know, without taking advantage of the opportunity.
11:22So I just made a determination, I'm going to buy it, I'm going to take it, and I'm bringing
11:26it home.
11:27Good deal, Kevin.
11:28Okay, thanks a lot.
11:30I appreciate it.
11:31Good job.
11:32Coming up...
11:33We got good news and bad news, Killer.
11:3472 gallons of liquor, and jars are unavailable right now.
11:38Man, I've got 20 customers that this is going to.
11:41I don't know how I'm going to get it to them without jars.
11:45Well, boys, as J.B. would say, another hard day at the office.
11:51Yep.
11:52It's been a little less than a week.
11:54Our mash should be ready.
11:55We're coming in with Daniel into the steel side.
11:57We're going to run the wheat brand mash today.
12:00Well, me running that down.
12:05Did you get there and get you too big of a lung full?
12:08Yeah, it's got some alkyo in it.
12:11God almighty.
12:12This is my very first time of ever making a 100% wheat brand or any other brand, for
12:18that matter, liquor.
12:19And there she comes.
12:23You know, Daniel's probably one of the few people that's helped us.
12:26Daniel's proven his worth, and we're going to let him in a little deeper in our world.
12:31She's lit now, ain't she, buddy?
12:35She's lit.
12:36Let's get lit.
12:37That's slicker than deer guts on the doorknob, ain't it?
12:41Just like a windshield wiper on a billy goat's eyes.
12:43You know, Daniel?
12:44Yeah.
12:45You've been a big help to us.
12:46You grounded up all the grain.
12:48You come with that corn.
12:50Normally, we wouldn't split equal thirds, but we think you're worth every bit of it.
12:55Well, I appreciate that.
12:56On this wheat brand shine, I'm actually equal partners with them on it.
13:01It's a big deal to me, you know, and it speaks volume to these guys.
13:05If you've got a barrel of corn mash over already, there ain't a better reason not cranking
13:08that little one up too, are they?
13:10No, we need to fill it up.
13:11Let's get her done.
13:13Look here, boys.
13:14There it is.
13:15You ready to get her fired up, Digger?
13:16You get her fired up.
13:17I'll get that gash that's coming out of here.
13:18It's going to poof on you.
13:19The hell far?
13:20Did you see that?
13:21Well, it burnt my hairs off my arm by then.
13:22Look at that.
13:23Good God, look at that.
13:24I think all I can say is I thank the good Lord it didn't get in my beard.
13:27I've been working on it about two years, and I've been working on it for two years, and
13:43I'm glad it didn't get swinged.
13:46Ain't nothing to do now but wait.
13:49I've not known Daniel that many years, but he's the kind of person that when you first
13:54meet him, you feel like you've known him your whole life.
13:57Is it hot?
13:58Yeah, hell yeah, it's hot.
13:59He's a lot of fun to have around.
14:01It smells like it's on its way.
14:04I'll give him an instant drunk right there once.
14:07Yeah, it's on its way.
14:09So is Mark.
14:11There it is.
14:13There she blows.
14:14The corn liquor.
14:15Still it starts pulling out liquor right off the bat, you know, about an hour in.
14:20We'll catch us a jar of heads and get rid of them.
14:23Now we can go to catching the real stuff right here.
14:27Big sloppy here, that's so hot you can't touch it right now.
14:30She'll be putting out liquor here any minute.
14:32This will be the first of many runs.
14:34We've got quite a bit of this wheat bran.
14:37Any run can go south on you, but we're just hoping this one turns out well.
14:40It's an experiment.
14:41Let me smell that.
14:43Gets you a nose hit.
14:46Whew.
14:47That's badass right there.
14:50There you go.
14:51Look yonder.
14:52Here's a jar of heads, fellas.
14:55Now here's the problem.
14:57What is it?
14:58Me and Mark both lost our peckers today.
15:01Sloppy ain't real cordial for somebody putting a strange pecker in her, but if you don't care,
15:07go ahead and...
15:08I just so happen to have one.
15:09Look there.
15:10Big sloppy's in particular who gets to stick her pecker in her.
15:13I'm going to stick my pecker in her today by then.
15:16That's an old big pecker there.
15:17She might like it.
15:19Well, she might get cantankers.
15:21You know, that's an honor to me to be able to pull a pecker out of my hat and stick it
15:26in another man's condenser.
15:31Boy, I'm telling you, that's nice smell.
15:34Nice on the nose.
15:39That's nice.
15:40I mean, it smells good.
15:43Just different.
15:44Wheat bran.
15:45Wheat bran.
15:46That's the way it is.
15:50It ain't fiery, is it?
15:51Mm-mm.
15:52It ain't corn for damn sure, but it's pretty good.
15:56Tastes pretty good on the damn tongue.
15:58You know, the way that tastes right there, I could sit in and drink that jar, but you'd
16:04have to carry me out.
16:05Yeah, we don't feel like that.
16:07We can tie a rope to you and try to drag you.
16:10You know, the taste is great.
16:11It's great on the nose.
16:13It's also got an aftertaste like fresh baked bread would, I guess you would say.
16:18So, yeah, the liquor's good and I think it'll be fine to sell.
16:21I have to help me do some pushing up this hill.
16:23Yeah, I can do that.
16:25Hot damn.
16:26I want to get it on the trailer and see what it'll look like.
16:39Then we can do something with it.
16:41Let's see if I can get it on the fork.
16:43In Culpeper, Virginia, in order to scale up their single malt moonshine, Tim and Chuck
16:49begin construction on a custom-built still.
16:52We're building this still on a trailer right now, mobile, because we don't know where we're
16:55going to put the thing.
16:56Now, we have room to expand, but we've got to build another building.
16:59You've got to pull a concrete pad.
17:01Well, you know, Tim has always got to do it right now.
17:04We don't have time for all of that.
17:06How was that, Chuck?
17:07Beautiful.
17:08This steel is a little bit different.
17:10It's kind of old school.
17:11If you look at some of the very old steels prior to, say, the 30s and 40s, a lot of them,
17:17you'll see the elephant trunk design.
17:19It goes way up in the air and then it turns back down to the condenser.
17:22Today, a lot of people don't use this technique, but this cap design is putting a resistance
17:28back onto the steel.
17:29That's going to increase reflux and it's going to help us not hurt us on the taste profile.
17:34How are you going to hook it up?
17:36Well, we put you in first and then we screw this in.
17:41There's a manhole in there.
17:43Okay, Chuck.
17:44Watch them steps now.
17:45Ain't nobody used this thing in 10 years.
17:47Can't find a step.
17:49I didn't tell you that was easy.
17:51No, you didn't tell me that, Chuck.
17:53You've got to wiggle in like an old snake going after a frog, you know?
17:57Can you stand up yet?
17:59Yeah.
18:00Okay.
18:01All right, we could use a little help.
18:03Yeah.
18:04Grab that thing and push it up to us, man.
18:07We're going to take the inch and a half, 60 feet long copper coil and kind of turn it
18:12and ease it in there like a corkscrew.
18:14Six more inches.
18:15Six more inches.
18:16That's all you get.
18:17Two inches.
18:19One inch.
18:20There it is.
18:21All right.
18:22You've got the whole enchilada.
18:25All right.
18:26Let's get this all in until I'm just going to weld it up.
18:31When we first did single malt barley, we took it down in the woods and we used the old submarine
18:38steel and we had a wooden barrel type thumper and a condensing worm.
18:42Right there, Chuck.
18:43See that?
18:44That'll work.
18:45We all are doing something a little bit different here.
18:47We took out the thumper.
18:49Normally, you know, it could change the taste profile a little bit.
18:52But to compensate for that, we increased the cap height.
18:56Bit it like that.
18:58And then we'll put that on top of that.
19:02Tim normally runs on a still consisting of a pot, thump keg, and condenser.
19:08The role of the thump keg is to increase proof by providing a mechanism that creates reflux
19:14or secondary distillation.
19:17In lieu of a thump keg, Tim is using a still design named for its long swooping curve,
19:23called a swan's neck.
19:25Due to its gradual reduction in size, it creates reflux by providing back pressure that holds
19:32the alcohol vapor back long enough for the less pure compounds to condense and fall back
19:37into the pot for further distillation.
19:40Only the lighter, more pure alcohol vapors continue through the neck to the condenser,
19:46resulting in a cleaner, malted barley flavor.
19:50You know, I'm just thinking, this is an engineer, and this is a backwoods engineer now.
19:55You know, we're still testing this thing.
19:57Keep going that way, Chuck.
19:59Until it comes out that spout, we don't know what it's going to taste like.
20:02All right, we're both in the cap arm.
20:06Looks like something out of a science fiction movie.
20:09This thing looks so nice, we'll put it in a parade.
20:11Yeah, it would be great in a parade.
20:18Man, I hope like hell over here there's a good damn spot,
20:21because we've got to find somewhere to go.
20:23Man, you ain't kidding.
20:24We've got to have something.
20:25Running that barn, this is too damn sketchy, man.
20:28We just can't be taking chances like that.
20:30Me and Jerry, we've got one more spot we can go check out.
20:33It's an old abandoned dairy farm.
20:35So you know anything about this guy here?
20:36Yeah, he's a pretty good old feller.
20:38He's all good with it?
20:39He's good.
20:40He said if you get caught, you're there on your own.
20:42I don't even know your ass is there.
20:44Mike's got a lead.
20:45Hopefully it'll be promising.
20:46I mean, we've got customers calling us every day,
20:48and we've got to keep this stuff flowing no matter what.
20:50Here's my number one question to you.
20:52Do we know that it's his land?
20:54We'll double check it for damn sure
20:56to make sure we're on his property.
20:58Get out and see what we can find.
21:04You know, as me and Mike's pulling in,
21:06it was his old dairy barn,
21:07and it's been there for a long time.
21:09It's done caved in on itself.
21:11What the hell's all this?
21:12There's a lot of cars.
21:14You see stuff been sitting around for years and years.
21:16Tells me there's not a whole lot going on
21:18in this piece of property.
21:21Better watch out, man.
21:22You can step on a damn snake or anything in here.
21:27There's water, ain't it?
21:31I'm going to jump down here and take a look at it.
21:33Me and Jerry, we stomp down through the briars and bushes and stuff,
21:36and sure enough, man, I mean, that creek's right there.
21:42Tastes like water.
21:43By God, it's good, too.
21:45It's clear.
21:46It's cold.
21:47It's running over blue slate rock.
21:49This spring right here is coming straight out of the top
21:51of the Smoky Mountains.
21:54Tell you what, this is a pretty nice little flat right here.
21:56I have to agree with you, Jerry.
21:57This looks awful daggum good, boy.
22:00We got cover right here.
22:01Real good cover.
22:03We got the creek right there on top of us.
22:05Right there beside us, too, son.
22:06That's just going to be handy.
22:08And the thing about it is I don't hear nothing but damn water.
22:10That's what I hear.
22:12This could work right here, bud.
22:14Leaving the ears and eyes open, I don't hear nothing.
22:16I don't hear nothing.
22:17I don't even hear a dog in the distance.
22:19You know what, baby?
22:20I think we got the spot, man.
22:21I do, man.
22:22I'm with you.
22:23Hey, but one damn other thing we need to do, buddy.
22:24What's up?
22:25Is find out for damn sure where we stand.
22:28That's your right.
22:29The last time we was on a steel site for so long
22:31and got run off because we was over the property line.
22:33So we're going to pinpoint and make damn sure we're on the property we're supposed to be on.
22:39Let's see.
22:40Right there is where he is.
22:41Right here is who the property belongs to.
22:43Does that look right?
22:44Mm-hmm.
22:45Oh, yeah.
22:46That's him.
22:47That's the guy.
22:48We are in the clear by a mile.
22:49This guy's got a lot of property.
22:50Hell, yeah.
22:51We're good to go.
22:52You know, now that we've got this site, we feel comfortable with it.
22:54Everything looks good.
22:55Access the water.
22:56We're going to get some mash supplies.
22:58We're going to bring in our barrel, our pump, and get this mash rolling.
23:02You know what?
23:03The walk in ain't going to be quite as bad.
23:23All right.
23:24You've got to get your ladder in places.
23:25You've got to tell me when to shut it off.
23:27In central Virginia...
23:29We're going to shoot for halfway.
23:30What are we shooting for?
23:31Yeah, we'll shoot for halfway.
23:32All right.
23:33Tim and Chuck prepare for an upscaled run of their single malt barley moonshine.
23:38It's the first run ever on their new mobile still.
23:42Even though it's a boiler fed commercial still, this design was developed to replicate the
23:48same taste profile that we got in the backwoods.
23:50Turn it down, Chuck.
23:51All right, here we go.
23:52All right.
23:53Got something going out now.
23:54You got it now, Tim?
23:55Yeah, we got some thick stuff, Chuck.
23:56Want the gate valve open further?
23:57I don't open it no more.
23:58It wants it to come out the top.
23:59I think it had a little thick stuff in the line, because now it's pretty good.
24:00It smells good too.
24:01Good.
24:02I think we can cut it off, Chuck.
24:03Let's get it on up there and let's hook it up to the boiler.
24:04All right.
24:05Well, we got two boilers here.
24:06We got the old one and we got the new one.
24:07New boiler.
24:08It's all connected to the big steel.
24:09And it's all connected to the big steel.
24:12What's the big deal?
24:13All right.
24:14It's all connected to the big steel.
24:15And then we got some thick stuff, Chuck.
24:16We got some thick stuff, Chuck.
24:17We got some thick stuff, Chuck.
24:18We got some thick stuff, Chuck.
24:19We want the gate valve open further?
24:20I don't open it no more.
24:21It wants it to come out the top.
24:22I think it had a little thick stuff in the line, because now it's pretty good.
24:23Smells good, too.
24:24I think we can cut it off, Chuck.
24:25Let's get it on up there and let's go hook it up to the boiler.
24:26All right.
24:27Well, we got two boilers here.
24:29We got the old one and we got the new one.
24:32New boiler.
24:33It's all connected to the big steel.
24:35We don't want to interfere with that.
24:36We don't want to stop anything.
24:37Plus, we have nowhere to hook up to.
24:39So we made a determination that the old boiler would be the best one to use.
24:43We're going to pull it up to the boiler, connect it.
24:46Look at that reach right there, Chuck.
24:48Let's try it.
24:49Chuck's been using this boiler for like 25, 30 years.
24:52You know, it works good.
24:53It works great.
24:54It's just old.
24:57Okay.
24:58I think I ought to turn it on, Chuck.
25:01You ready?
25:02Yeah, let's turn the steam on.
25:03Let's see if this old thing will crank up today.
25:06So, hot steam, 350 degrees going into here.
25:10It's going to circulate 60 times, round and around and around.
25:14And then it's going to come out here.
25:16And then once the mash gets to 175 degrees, it's going to come at the cap to the worm.
25:21Alcohol is going to come out of this one and then the overflow of cold water is going to come out of this one,
25:25going back into that drain there.
25:26And all that's going to meet up together if it all goes right.
25:30I'm going to throttle it back a little bit.
25:35We don't want to give Tim too much steam.
25:39Let me go check the rest of the valve.
25:42There's a lot of steam going up here.
25:47I don't know if that's working like it's supposed to work or not, Chuck.
25:53It's all blowing out the roof out there.
25:55The steam is supposed to be going into our steel, our mobile steel.
25:59But steam is coming out of the chimney of the boiler.
26:02I mean, it's total opposite of what it's supposed to be doing.
26:06The boiler just blew up.
26:08The chamber blew the side and it blew it up.
26:10The smoke stand.
26:11That is not good, sir.
26:12No, that ain't good at all.
26:14They're gone.
26:18You got the same kind of hookup over here?
26:20Well, it's not there now.
26:22We could put it in.
26:23Back at Belmont Farm, after losing the secondary boiler, Tim and Chuck are going with plan B.
26:30Well, you know, we got the main boiler.
26:32This boiler actually right now is running a 3,000-gallon steel.
26:35But this boiler is big enough to run the whole distillery.
26:38It's just not been connected.
26:40How are we going to connect into this thing, Chuck?
26:42I don't know.
26:43But first thing we got to do is shut this down and let it cool off.
26:47Boy, I hate doing that, Tim.
26:49The boiler is the heart of the whole system here.
26:52This boiler shut down, it shuts the whole distillery down.
26:54We got to solve this and we got to solve it fast.
26:57This is a steam line here, but this steam is going to have to connect to that outflow pipe over there.
27:03And that runs over there and goes out over there.
27:05It goes outside and that's where we can connect to our mobile still.
27:08That's actually like the drain for the steel.
27:10It's really a drain for the big still, but we can connect it over here because this goes back to the boiler.
27:15That's the main steam line.
27:17We cut that pipe and can you put it back together, we're really going to be in a problem.
27:20We got to do it.
27:21It is heart surgery.
27:22You know, I'm the surgeon here.
27:24There you go, Tim.
27:25And we're going to put in a bypass because hopefully the connections work.
27:29It all matches.
27:30If we cut this line and we mess this thing up, the whole distillery is going to be stopping.
27:37There you go, Chuck.
27:44It's an early day, Tim.
27:45Looks like it fits to me.
27:46So now you've got a valve here.
27:48You can cut this on, cut that valve off there and that steam will come through here.
27:52Yeah.
27:53Or you can cut this off and it becomes a drain line and the drain comes out here.
27:57Yeah.
27:58You could open that up and open that up and blow the steam out to clean the slop out the bottom.
28:03All right.
28:04I think we did all the retrofitting pretty good.
28:07You want to hook it up?
28:08All right.
28:09Here we go.
28:10Now it's able to run both steels.
28:15Be easy with it, Chuck.
28:16It's a little steel, you know.
28:18You know, this is a big boiler.
28:20I'm just afraid that maybe it's too big and we put too much stress on the steel.
28:24I turned it on, Tim.
28:25You know, we just built this thing.
28:27Homemade from a lot of different sources here and we're going to build pressure inside.
28:33I can feel that thing swelling.
28:35Yeah.
28:36You better get back in case it blows.
28:38You ain't got a shirt on.
28:39I know.
28:40The pressure's okay as long as it has a way to escape.
28:43The escape is through the cap, the arm, the condenser.
28:47If any of that gets clogged up, then you got back pressure.
28:50How much pressure's on it, Chuck?
28:52Well, if not that much, I can squeeze it.
28:54450 gallon steel could be maybe 10,000 pounds of pressure.
28:58If you take 10,000 pounds of pressure and hit a piece of sheet metal, it's going to rip it apart.
29:02And if you're within that vicinity somewhere, you're probably going to get cut open.
29:06It's getting hot.
29:09And we got alcohol coming out.
29:11Chuck, we're running.
29:13We did something right, huh?
29:15A little bit cloudy.
29:16Yeah, that's what we did.
29:17Let's clean that coal up.
29:18It's heads right there.
29:20Whew.
29:21Well, you know, when the other boiler blew up, I didn't think it would get here.
29:24I thought it was going to wind up dumping all the mash out.
29:26But now we got both running.
29:28We're making climax inside and straight 100% barley malt outside.
29:39That's rich, true barley right there.
29:41I think it's good, Chuck.
29:43Yeah.
29:44It's single malt, 100% malted barley.
29:46We have proved that we can replicate the taste profile whether we do it in the woods or do it on a mobile steel.
29:51That right there, you know what, that sneaks up on you.
29:53Look at that bee.
29:54When them bees come around, then you know it's good.
29:56Yeah.
29:57I really think that when it hits the market, it's going to be on fire.
30:01That'll sell, Tim.
30:02That's good.
30:13Here we go.
30:14You had them barrels on the elevator, ain't you?
30:16Yeah, I had them hit there halfway down.
30:18How much was he wanting?
30:1970?
30:2072 gallons.
30:2172 gallons.
30:22Now that's a good sale.
30:23Back at their headquarters in rural Tennessee, Mark and Digger ready a shipment of wheat brand moonshine for their Nashville bootlegger, Killer Bees.
30:33After we told him about this wheat brand bees, he's all excited and he's on his way.
30:38He's after 72 gallons, he's already got his soul.
30:41So we've got to get in here and jar it up and get it ready for distribution.
30:44We need that little pump we used the other day.
30:47You know, Bees is in his wheelhouse in Nashville.
30:49He's got high-priced clients.
30:51Here we go.
30:52And, you know, we like to have him around.
30:54He generates a lot of sales with a big price tag attached to them.
30:58Well, looking back, I probably should have got a little stronger of a pump, maybe.
31:02That's all right.
31:03Well, I don't want to pump it too fast because if something goes haywire, you don't lose as much so quick.
31:08Yeah, if your hose flies out or something, you ain't squirted it every damn while all over the floor.
31:12With these four barrels full, which is 120 gallons, that's 480 quarts.
31:18Well, you go get us some jars and I'll check the proof on this.
31:21Okay.
31:22Bees, of course, is getting the line share of it.
31:24It's hard work, but honestly, it's a good payday.
31:28Damn.
31:29Hard time I'm out of jars.
31:31Hey, puss.
31:32Hey, Hattie.
31:33We're going to have to go get some more jars if we don't have but four boxes.
31:36We use so many jars, we buy them with a pallet, normally two to four pallets at a time.
31:40I knew we were running low on jars, just didn't know how bad.
31:43Look at that, puss.
31:44There are two more.
31:45That's all of them, ain't it?
31:47Yep.
31:48I'll tell you what, if you can hold this fork down, I'll go out there at Chips and I'll get two pallets of jars and then we'll get the rest of this dog down.
31:56Yeah, because he's got to have 24 boxes.
31:59I'll be back in about 45 minutes.
32:02Take your time, I've got this.
32:04You know, the mason jar is a quintessential vessel for moonshine liquor.
32:08In the backwoods, there's not a bottle factory that you can go to and have you a custom bottle made, so everybody relied, in our neck of the woods at least, on the mason jar.
32:17They're clean, they're easy to see through, you can see if you're getting a quality product.
32:21You can pour you a drink out and seal it back up, you can drink out of it, sit it in the refrigerator, stick it in a cooler and drag it out and get a drink when you want it.
32:30One time no see.
32:31Well, it's that time of the year, I need jars.
32:34I need at least one pallet if you got them.
32:37You and several thousand others, my friend.
32:40I can't get .
32:41No, no.
32:42In 50 years that we've been here, never seen product so hard to come by.
32:46And it's not just toilet paper, it's almost anything.
32:49And if you walk through the grocery store, a normal grocery store, you'll see outages everywhere you turn.
32:54And we've gone through probably 18,000 cases of jars in seven weeks.
33:00You can't even get a jar lid.
33:03It's bad, my friend.
33:04What do you reckon the deal is?
33:06The several thousand cases we've gone through, most of that's people that's canning.
33:10Yeah.
33:11They've put gardens out for the first time, maybe in a long time.
33:14I never thought I'd see anything like this in my lifetime, but nah.
33:18Every source I've ever had for a glass container, I can't find them.
33:21Well, I'm going to get out of here.
33:22I know you're busy, brother.
33:23It's good to see you, my friend.
33:24I appreciate it.
33:25I'll check with you.
33:26If you don't call me with anything, I'll check with you.
33:27Okay.
33:28Cool deal.
33:29You know, it's funny how the same thing that caused our business to go through the roof,
33:33the pandemic, has apparently affected the jar business as well.
33:36No matter what the reason is that this has come about, we've got to find a source somewhere.
33:41We can't be in the liquor business if we don't have something to put a liquor in.
33:44Well, I never thought I'd see a day like this that you can't find no jars.
33:48Hell far.
33:58I stopped at four other places.
34:00There ain't even a jelly jar to be had.
34:02We've had sugar shortages and grain shortages, but there ain't never been a jar shortage.
34:06If it ain't one thing, it's 75.
34:08The things that you can always know is a given, and now it ain't.
34:13Well, there ain't nothing certain no more except there ain't no easy way to make a living in the liquor business.
34:18Kind of makes you wish we'd have paid some taxes now, so we could have got some of that rockin' sure money, don't it?
34:23Yeah.
34:24I wonder if we can apply for some of that PPP money.
34:27I don't know.
34:28Hell, we're self-employed, and we pay our employees.
34:30We might come get some of it.
34:38Yee-haw!
34:39Almost to the right spot.
34:40That's right.
34:41In eastern Tennessee, Mike and Jerry are prepping their mash and building out their new still site to house their 13-foot column still.
34:51All right, Jerry.
34:52I know your damn belly's still hurting.
34:54How are we gonna get this down this damn hill?
34:56Could just slide it down the bank, but it might tear the bags.
34:59We got that damn tarp right there.
35:00Look up there.
35:09In order to be a moonshine, you gotta use your damn head.
35:12Oh, yeah.
35:13I mean, you gotta come up with something on the fly all the time.
35:16You know, I think we've created the first ever mash slipping slide.
35:20You wanna head on down?
35:21I'll get a hose.
35:22All right.
35:23I've got oats and barley today to mash in with.
35:28Got it very, very cheap.
35:30We're just using what we can use, you know.
35:33Besides with the rig that we've got, it's just gonna strip the taste out of it anyway.
35:37Let's get the sugar poured in.
35:40It should take, I don't know, seven to ten days.
35:42Maybe a day or two longer in order to give us time to start building our still house.
35:47Got it, sweetheart.
35:50We gotta get this joker built or we can get that still in here.
35:53Mike and I were planning on building this thing up about 14-foot tall.
35:56Basically, me and Mike just wanna keep it simple.
35:58We're gonna have four posts and a sloped roof.
36:00All we need is just a cover to keep the rain from falling on this pot.
36:07Filling these holes up with water here so we can add our concrete.
36:12That just saves us from, you know, mixing in like a wheelbar or something like that.
36:15And plus, I got some really quick-setting concrete.
36:18How's it looking, buddy?
36:19Dead on the money right there, son.
36:21Look, that looks good.
36:22We got four posts in the ground, Bubba.
36:26That's gonna be a high enough roof, ain't it?
36:29Speaking of a damn roof, what are we gonna do for a roof?
36:32We ain't got no roofing material right now.
36:34Good option I know of.
36:35We done bought metal one time.
36:37I knew exactly what the hell he was talking about.
36:39He wants us to go over there and get that roof material over on that other man's land at the old steel site.
36:44You know, Jerry, I mean, that man, you know, he swore by it.
36:47He was gonna call the law on us if he caught us in there again.
36:50What cops still on our own stuff?
36:51I mean, what are they gonna do?
36:52Run us off cause we're trespassing?
36:54Technically, it belongs to us.
36:56We should be able to get it.
36:57Let's do it.
36:58We'll go get that right now if you want to.
37:01This roofing, it's close to $1,000.
37:03I don't want to fork up that kind of money this late in the season.
37:06So, you know, I've pretty much got it under my damn sleeve.
37:09I'm gonna slip back in there and get this metal off this damn steel house and get the hell out of there.
37:13Get up here and get this jacket off and get the hell out of here, Jerry.
37:16I'll tell you what, I'm not too keen about what's going on.
37:19I ain't neither.
37:20But I'd be down if I'm gonna let somebody stop me forgetting what's mine.
37:23I'll tell you one damn thing, I ain't gonna miss this walk.
37:27I ain't neither.
37:29It's sad to see you ain't brother.
37:32I'll tell you what, it's pretty disheartened.
37:35But, you know what, it's gonna lead on to better things.
37:38I feel it.
37:39Hell yeah.
37:40It's a sketchy situation.
37:42It's scary.
37:43It's nerve wracking.
37:44But we've got it to do.
37:46Damn it, come on fire.
37:48Just don't bend it up.
37:50We gotta reuse it.
37:51Watch it, Derek.
37:59Knew that was gonna happen.
38:02This is a sad ass situation.
38:04After all the work we put into this place and having to take it all back down.
38:08And it's coming down a lot faster than it went up.
38:10That's what's so surprising.
38:12You know what takes so long to build, it don't take but a minute to crumble it to pieces.
38:15It's a little disheartening.
38:16It's sad.
38:17This is the end of it brother.
38:19Yep.
38:20It's time to move on now.
38:22I'll tell you what man, with the steel site that we've got now.
38:25This roof of metal is gonna look sexy.
38:27It's gonna be as good and not better than what we had before.
38:30I'm excited to get started and get a new steel site built so we can get back in operation.
38:34I'm just hoping that it stops us on the way out of here.
38:42I hope like hell not.
38:44These old crickety floors, I don't know if they're gonna stand much more of this or not.
39:00Sounds like minding your knees coming up them steps.
39:03You know I don't know how B's gonna take it when he realizes he's gotta take these two 30-gallon barrels of liquor.
39:09But that's his only option.
39:11Easy now.
39:12He's got people waiting on liquor.
39:14Lift with your knees, not your back.
39:16He's gotta take it, find jars, then dispense it.
39:19And, you know, he's gotta do what he's gotta do just like we do.
39:33There he is.
39:34There she comes.
39:42Hello fellas.
39:43Killer.
39:44How are you buddy?
39:45Good man, how are you?
39:46Good to see you.
39:47Hello my friend.
39:48What's up?
39:49How y'all doing?
39:50We got good news and bad news, Killer.
39:53I may see some of the bad news right now.
39:55We got 60, and that's the last of any jars.
39:59Jars are unavailable right now.
40:01Why are there no jars?
40:02I think during this economic hardship, more people's cannon, putting up food.
40:08Man, I've got 20 customers that this is going to.
40:11I don't know how I'm gonna get it to them without jars.
40:14When people think moonshine, they think mason jars.
40:17They want to open a lid and take a swig and go, whew, that was moonshine.
40:23That's the mystique of it.
40:25I don't know what I'm gonna do about that.
40:26I don't have jars.
40:27I need hundreds, hundreds of jars.
40:30Dad gum, man.
40:31I'm gonna need glass to put those in.
40:33I don't have an answer for you there.
40:35Okay.
40:36We're in the same situation we are.
40:37We're struggling, and you're going to struggle with us, brother.
40:40I'm gonna look in Nashville.
40:42I'll see what I can do.
40:43And you need jars as well.
40:45We need all we can get.
40:46If I find jars.
40:47As many as we can get.
40:48Okay.
40:49The next big thing is, will these fit in your soccer mom car?
40:53In my soccer mom?
40:54Well, uh, maybe.
40:56Maybe.
40:57Okay, it's not a soccer mom car.
41:00It is a crossover SUV.
41:02Bees, how about helping us a little bit?
41:04Yeah, let me hold this mat down.
41:05Yeah, you .
41:07It's not big, it's affordable.
41:12I believe it'll go.
41:14I am not a soccer mom.
41:18Seventy bucks a gallon, $5,040.
41:21I trust you, brother.
41:23When you get home, call us and let us know you made it safe.
41:26I will, and I'll get right on those jars, man.
41:27Drive slow, don't break your speed limit.
41:29Thanks, guys.
41:30Thank you, brother.
41:31Love you, man.
41:32Love you, mean it.
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