Moonshiners (2011–…): Season 4, Episode 7 - White Lightning Wars - full transcript

Nyo-o-o-w!

Narrator:
Tonight on "moonshiners"...

Bootleggers on high alert...

I'm right here where I'm
supposed to be meeting a guy,

And there's a cop.

Narrator:
...Moonshine sticker shock...

Tim: Easy.

Man, when you moved it,
it looked like it broke.

Tim: We added more time
and more money.

Narrator: ...And the law
cracks down in south carolina.

Bill: He's stopping
behind your truck.



All the metal
and stuff you got here

Looks like some of the makings
for a moonshine still.

Man: This is how
we make the moonshine!

Captions paid for by
discovery communications

Narrator: The dog days
of shine season have arrived.

From the caverns of kentucky
to the carolina piedmont,

Temperatures are rising,
and so is the danger

As shiners aim
to keep their cool

And spin high risk
into higher reward.

On a remote country road
in north carolina,

Mark and jeff are feeling
the heat.

Yep.

Mark: Yeah.

Jeff: Uh-oh.
Uh-oh.



Narrator: After sheriff's deputy
chuck stewart burned

Their first indoor site...

Jeff: We got to get
this thing set up,

Or we're gonna be broke
this winter.

These shiners have been busy
playing catch-up.

But with a secret backwoods spot
finally secured,

And their massive
760-gallon still in place,

The boys are anxious to blow
the lid off shine season.

We need to get to running
quick as we can, don't we?

Jeff: The more work we do,
the further behind we get.

[ siren wails ]

I got the license.

I don't have time
for registration.

I ain't sure
where it's at.

Mark: No.

Water.

[ police radio chatter ]

Jeff: Okeydoke.
We appreciate it.

Jeff: I've actually been
in handcuffs 27 times --

Well, 28 times now.

I've not been arrested since
I was 19 years old, though.

We got to really double down
and be careful from here on out

'cause they know who we are
and know what we do.

Mark: What if we would have had
a load on this thing?

Jeff: We'd have been
going to jail.

Narrator:
With the law safely behind them,

Mark and jeff are anxious
to make their first run

And finally break out
of their slump.

But 300 miles away in virginia,

Tickle's trying to keep
his winning streak going strong

With a brand-new batch
of tim smith's recipe in tow.

Tickle: I have a lot of work
and a lot of money into this.

It's time for it
to start making me some money

Instead of costing me money.

Narrator: After a stellar run
brewing 100 gallons

In chico and tyler's
kentucky cave site...

I got an address in here.
It's in virginia.

...The virginia shiners
secretly shipped...

[ grunts ]

Narrator: ...Then stashed the
first half of the $10,000 haul

In a local junkyard.

Five gallons down.
All right.

[ sighs ]

Narrator:
Now he's itching

To chalk up his first sale
of the season.

Tickle: Any time
you're transferring shine

From one person to another,

There's always
an element of danger.

This isn't a small deal.

Quite a bit of money's
gonna change hands.

I've got nine gallons of shine.

That's enough to send me to jail
for a long time.

Narrator: Tickle stands
to make $1,000 on today's deal.

The price of moonshine is
largely based

On the cost of sugar,
propane, and gasoline.

A rise in just one, and
the price of shine can spike.

During prohibition,

The cost of a gallon
of the home brew was just $3,

But the fuel crisis of the 1970s
sent oil prices skyrocketing,

Causing moonshine to top $10
for the first time.

And today, a jug can easily
set you back 100 bucks,

A hefty payday that,
for most shiners,

Outweighs the risks
of getting caught.

Tickle: If you're not at least
a little bit scared

When you're doing
something like this,

You don't need to be doing it.

I think this might be it.

Tickle:
How's it going [bleep]

You who I'm supposed
to be talking to?

Let me show you
what I got here.

You might not want to smoke
around this stuff.

Pretty good stuff.
See what you think.

All right.

All right.
I got nine gallons.

If you want to start
lugging them in,

I'll start bringing them
out to you.

You got the cash?

All right.
So I reckon that'll do it.

All right.
All right.

I got plenty
of this stuff.

All right, well, you
just give me a call
when you need some more.

We'll see you.

Tickle: You always got to be
suspicious and be careful.

Last thing in the world I want
to do is mess all this up.

Narrator: While tickle can
finally celebrate

His first sale this season...

Bill: Oh, man, we got
a bunch of gear to tote in.

Josh:
Come on, cutie pie.

...The clock is ticking
for two south carolina shiners.

Josh and bill have sunk
thousands of dollars

Into a huge submarine still...

Josh: [ chuckles ]
this thing's huge, dude.

...Capable of producing nearly
100 gallons of liquor per run.

Bill: [ grunts ]
oh, oh, oh, oh.

But the stress of the build has
stirred up old problems.

I've had a hell
of a [bleep] day,

And I'm done.

Now, with customers threatening
to buy elsewhere,

The two are working overtime,

Desperate to turn
their season around.

Damn.

[ sighs ]

Their first task --
setting up a water source.

Bill:
Let's build a damn dam.

Josh: [ grunts ]

Josh: We're gonna take
all these rocks,

Dig all this dirt out,

Make a pretty deep pool
right here.

The dam will collect
a pool of water

That will be used
to cool the still's condenser...

Josh:
There's a bullfrog.

...A crucial step
in making moonshine.

Thanks!
Ha-ha!

[bleep]
sorry, dude.

That ought to be good,
bill.

I love it.
I love it.

I'm gonna coat the top of it
with a couple bags of cement

Just so it's got --

No, we ain't putting
no concrete in here.

Just one -- or like four bags
across through there.

No, no.

We got a clean
mountain creek here.

I ain't wanting to put
any concrete in the thing.

It'll be clean,

And we'll take the whole
top layer off and turn it up --

Bill: Josh is
starting fights with me

About wanting
to put concrete in our dam.

Same thing happened last year.

I ain't gonna do that, flat-out.

We're gonna try
to leave nature undisturbed.

Whatever.

Go get a pond liner,
a tarp.

I'm sick of it!

Narrator:
Instead of concrete,

The two shiners seal their dam
with a plastic tarp,

Creating a reservoir
to collect the water.

I got a couple rocks.

When the level gets high enough,
it will flow into a pipe

Which will carry it 50 yards
down to the still site.

Bill: That looks like
that'll feed water downhill

From the dam
all the way down.

Josh: That's all I wanted
right there.

Perfect.

Our water supply's done.
Boom!

It's been
a lot of damn work.

I don't think
there's anything we do

That's not
a lot of damn work.

Narrator:
While josh and bill aim to keep
their backwoods setup simple,

For one veteran shiner,

The stills keep getting
more and more complex.

Tim: I don't know
about this thing.

This is a different setup.

This thing's got
too many pipes on it.

Let's see
what it taste like.

Narrator:
Tim smith has teamed up with
the north carolina distillery

And just re-created
his patented mash recipe.

You can drink that, now.
[ chuckles ]

Now tim is ready
to fire up his first batch,

But he's anxious about
the cutting-edge equipment.

Troy: Hey!
What are you doing?

Tim:
I'm just looking at it.

A little bit different
from what I've ever seen,

But we'll see what happens
when we run it.

To make his climax moonshine,

Tim has relied for years
on the basic backwoods trio

Of submarine pot, doubler,
and copper worm.

But troy's
top-of-the-line distillery

Uses an enormous column still
standing 18 feet tall

And filled
with multiple chambers

That can distill liquor
at a much higher rate.

But there's no guarantee
that troy's expensive columns

Will produce tim's
signature flavor.

I don't want to run it
through the columns.

[ groaning ] ohh!
You're, like, impossible.

Tim:
Troy has always used the columns
in distilling their moonshine,

And it cleans it up real good,

But we're already producing
in kentucky.

We already have set a standard.

Everybody knows
what it tastes like,

And everybody wants
the same taste.

Trying to make
my product...

You're trying to make
a simpler product

On a sophisticated still.

"sophisticated"?
I call it complicated.

Try one time
with the columns.

If you don't like it,

Then let's talk
about something else.

All right.
Yeah.

We'll just run it
like that.

Tim:
This is a lot of stuff here.

I don't need all this equipment.

A lot of bubbling going on
in there.

But I do need to make
more moonshine.

So I got to give it a try.

You know, we capture product
over here, right,

In these tanks?

But if you flip this valve,
it'll make it come out here.

Da-da!
Voilà.

It's not too bad.

All right?

That's a step
in the right direction.

No, but it ain't
my moonshine, though.

Mm.

[ groans ]
you sure you put

The right mash in it?

Yes, it has
the right mash in it!

Tim:
I can see right now

The column still is not gonna
make my moonshine.

It just does not taste the same.

It ain't mine.
It ain't mine.

I want to change all this.

What do you want to do?

Tim: The key is trying
to make my flavor

Just like the backwoods,

So the backwoods --

You got to have a pot,
a doubler, and a worm.

Tim: See? One, two, three.
Simple.

Troy: We put this doubler in
just for him.

Now he wants to put in
an old-fashioned,

You know, worm or snake,

But this is costing me.

Been making it like that
a long time before me.

It's in the process.
You know what?

If you want to build this,
it's on your dime.

When do you want
to do this?

As soon as possible.

Narrator:
Coming up...

Tempers spill over...

[ imitates chattering ]
"no, we'll make this work."

[ imitates chattering ]

...Tim and troy go toe-to-toe...

I don't want a place where
bacteria grows, dirty water.

It's a condensing worm.

Ain't no bacteria growing.
Yeah, it is.

Narrator: ...And a barn burner
in north carolina.

Mark: There's a fire.
Jeff: Where?

Under the still. Get it.
Put it out.

Narrator:
For over a century,

Backwoods brewers
across appalachia perfected

The slow, but steady art
of producing premium moonshine

With each step
of the painstaking process

Being passed down
through the generations

To a chosen few.

And in cocke county, tennessee,

One of those shiners is working

To keep the traditions
alive and well.

We got us a good place to get in
and spread it out.

What do you think about maybe us
making a little bit of liquor?

I ain't above it as long
as you don't tell my wife.

After 10 years, digger
and his partner in crime, mark,

Are back in the game,

Poised to brew the best-tasting
moonshine in these parts

And pay tribute to the legends
who came before,

Like their mentor,
popcorn sutton.

Digger:
Mark wanted to make this run
of liquor the old-fashioned way,

So I've had this corn
in the creek for a couple days,

Getting it soaked to get it
ready to sprout and malt it.

And we've hid them up
down the creek

So they're not all
in one spot.

When you're at the house,
you got chlorinated water.

Here, you got
the old mountain water

Like the old-timers used.

This is the fun part --
getting wet and nasty.

This is our last bag,

So we're gonna put this out
on a tarp,

Put a little wet blanket
over it,

Let it start sprouting,

And let mother nature do
her wonders in the dark.

We started with 50 pounds
of corn that was dry.

Now we've got 100 pound of wet.

And we do this
really scientifically.

And while this is sprouting,

Let's keep it good and damp
so the kernels don't dry out.

The wet blanket is used
to help generate its own heat,

And then, the water evaporates,
comes to the top of the tarp,

Comes back down --

Just a raining process just
like mama nature.

And then, we hope,
when we come back,

That we don't have
a big bunch of snakes.

But the upside is there ain't
nothing like a good copperhead

To make a burglar alarm.

It should sprout
within two to three days.

I'll be ready to kill it,
grind it, and make it into mash.

Narrator:
Digger's time-honored methods

Can produce
a strong, smooth taste

That few store-bought moonshines
can ever match.

Tim smith's liquor was
the exception.

Now he's set up
in a new distillery

That stripped his liquor
of its famous flavor.

Yeah,
where is this guy?

Uh...

J.C.?

So tim's contracting
a local welder

To build a worm
that he believes is the key

To putting the backwoods
back in his whiskey.

Hey.
This is tim smith.

He wants to build
a simple condensing unit.

I'm sure you've built
a few of those in your day.

Yeah.
[ laughs ]

Don't tell nobody.

"don't tell nobody."
good.

And he really wants it
to be copper --

A copper snake
like the old days.

I need
to satisfy you both.

So right over here is
the pretty stuff, troy.

That's the part
I want to see.

Narrator: In the backwoods,
a worm box is usually made

Of cheap plastic or wood,

But troy isn't letting any
old barrel into her distillery.

She's making tim pay up
for the new piece.

Troy wants this thing made
out of stainless steel

So it can match the other parts
of the distillery,

But I'm not sure,
at the end of the day,

How much it's gonna cost.

Probably gonna take about
a sheet and a half, two sheets.

That means I got to pay
for two sheets?

Two sheets.

Probably looking
at maybe $3,000, $3,500 --

Something like that.

That's a deal.
Don't you think?

Yeah, that's a deal.
That's a deal.

Yeah, that's a deal.

Let's go ahead and put it
on the shear and get it going.

Man, he's pretty good
with that forklift.

Oh, yeah.

Tim:
Three sheets?

Yeah.
For what?

Troy: For the top.

It don't need no top.
Yeah.

We don't need no --
we're having a top on it.

Narrator: In the woods, the
worm box is typically left open

To allow a hose to circulate
water in and out of the barrel,

But for her distillery,

Troy wants the new box capped
and clean.

I don't want a place
where bacteria grows,

Dirty water.
It's a worm.

It's a condensing worm.
Ain't no bacteria growing.

Yeah, it is.

Tim: She wants me to spend
all this money

Making it look pretty
and shiny.

I don't care anything
about that. Just make it work.

Tim: You sure these guys know
what they're doing?

Troy: I mean,
if it were up to him,

We'd have a wood box up there
with a snake in it,

You know, a worm in it.

It would look like hell.

Are you in?

Tim: Troy looked at me
like I'm cheap.

Troy: Pick it up!
Pick it up!

But to make a business,
you got to show a profit,

And if I'm going in the hole
before I get started,

I'll never get out of the hole.

I paid for it.
I'm gonna take it home with me.

Narrator:
Just across the state line,

Two shiners get cracking

On another grueling day
of grunt work.

Josh:
Get out, cutie pie.

Josh and bill are eager to
finish off their enormous still

And finally start
pumping out shine.

Josh: I hope we make
a lot of money down here

Because I sure as hell

Don't want to tote
this [bleep] out of here

If we don't make
some cash this time.

After setting up a dam
the day before,

They're checking if the water
level has risen high enough

To feed down to their still.

Start at the dam,
work our way down?

Yes.

But it seems
with every step forward,

There are two steps back.

Josh: Well, we got a problem.
Bill: What's that?

We ain't got no water.

Bill: The reservoir's empty.
It's six inches below our pipe.

[bleep]

The water's been creeping up
under our plastic.

It's flowing in
right around the side over here.

The plastic's
really not wide enough.

We pull it back?
We can fix it.

It's just gonna take
a little work.

Josh: You know, I told bill
to use cement instead of tarp.

Well, as usual, bill's wanting
to do things his way.

I told you that
before we ever put it in here.

Is that
what you told me?

Yeah.
Okay.

We can maybe dig down,

Get the thing tucked in
up under it,

And get some rocks
back on top of it.

I think we need
a bigger piece of plastic.

Y'all think we can
peel the rocks up?

We need a bigger piece
of plastic.

Just saying.

I think
I can make it work.

If you work on that all day long
until the cows come home,

It ain't gonna matter

'cause it's gonna come
around the sides.

I'm not gonna sit here
and work on it all day long

When I know that we're just
pissing in the wind.

I mean, I'm just not
gonna do it.

You want to work
on the soldering,

And I'll, uh...

If you could fix this
by doing that right there,

You have at it.

I'm gonna figure out
something else to do.

All right.

Josh: When I found that dam
in that shape,

I just couldn't deal with it.

I don't know.

I don't even want to talk
about it, man.

Honestly, I don't.
I'm frustrated.

Instead of just saying,
"I need another $30 for plastic

'cause this really ain't
gonna work,"

He's like...
[ imitates chattering ]

"no, we'll make this work."
[ imitates chattering ]

"yeah, we'll make this work."
[ imitates chattering ]

Narrator: Coming up...

Tickle flirts with disaster...

And two shiners are
up against the ropes.

Bill:
This definitely looks like it's
gonna be a trouble spot for us.

I don't know if we're ever gonna
get this damn thing done

Before shine season's over.

Narrator: Deep in the woods
of south carolina,

A dam has gone bust,

And two shiners are barely
on speaking terms.

Josh:
"I want to do it like this.
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah [bleep]

Narrator: While bill tries
to salvage the setup,

A frustrated josh focuses
on the still.

Josh:
I don't see it fixing the dam

Without having
a bigger piece of plastic

'cause that's the whole problem
to begin with.

If we had got
a bigger piece of plastic,

We could have come up a little
bit higher on the sides of it,

But we still had
the same problem

With our front edge of it.

Instead of just saying,
"I need another $30 for plastic

'cause this really ain't
gonna work,"

He's like...
[ imitates chattering ]

"no, we'll make this work."
[ imitates chattering ]

Bill: Get this bad boy built
back up to the level we need it,

And I think we're gonna be
cooking with gas.

That [bleep] drives me crazy.

Bill: This might be
where our trouble spot is.

We got this solid rock
right here.

It's irregular-surface rock.

That might have been where some
of our water was creeping in.

I might need to chip out
a little bit more of it,

Maybe see if I can get our
plastic tucked down in the sand.

All right.

Josh: I'm too frustrated
to deal with that.

This is something I like.

That's something
I just don't even want

To sit there and argue about,

So it'd be a lot easier
just to come down here

And hammer this out.

I don't know if we're ever gonna
get this damn thing done

Before shine season's over.

Bill: The more I look
at this thing, it's --

This definitely looks like it's
gonna be a trouble spot for us.

I think josh might be right.

We really just need a bigger
piece of plastic on this thing.

Crawdad.

Tell you what -- live crawdads
usually equal pretty good water.

These things are pretty hardy.

It doesn't -- ow!

Ow!

Narrator: 150 miles to the west,
in graham county...

Jeff: Okay, hold it
right there.

Hold it.
Lance: I got it.

Lance:
I didn't have it.

Jeff: [ sighs ]

Narrator: After all the
crushing setbacks this season...

Oh, yeah.

...And two close calls
with the cops...

Mark, jeff, and lance have
all their supplies

And are finally ready
to get mashed in.

Jeff: We got to get
our season started.

We're behind.

I've got every dime I got
invested in this thing,

And we got a lot at stake here,
you know, not just our freedom.

Now, this is
the biggest one we've mixed,

So, you know,
we're just gonna mix it

Like we would a small batch,
but just more of it.

We're behind, but we can get
caught up real quick.

Once jeff adds water

To his mixture of grains,
malted corn, and sugar,

They'll wait
for the mash to ferment.

Then, it's time to shine.

A lot of people,
they don't take their time,

Buy the cheapest ingredient
they can get.

If you use
all cheap ingredients,

You'll have
a cheap-tasting liquor.

Narrator: Moonshiners have
to spend money to make money.

By the time he runs
his first batch,

Jeff will be $20,000
in the hole.

Jeff: I'm gonna stick
all these bags in.

I'm gonna go out
and set them on fire.

You want to burn
all your evidence.

They can actually prosecute you.

They can charge you
for over 10 pounds of sugar.

They can charge you
for a gallon of liquor

Even though you don't have
no liquor made.

While mark, jeff,
and lance are just warming up

For their first run,

One shiner's season is
already catching fire.

Tickle: I've finally got
some sales going on.

It's been a long time coming.

A whole lot of work gone
into this.

Narrator:
After ponying up to ship
and stash his kentucky shine,

Tickle's been cashing in,

Peddling 60 gallons

Of tim smith's
tried-and-true recipe

Across the region,

Earning $2,000 so far.

But he has to stay on guard.

The amount of shine
he's carrying

Could land him in federal prison
for up to five years.

This guy, he's wanting to meet
close to where he works at,

This old train yard.

It's not like hiding
in the woods with it.

At the same time, word's
traveling fast about this stuff,

And the cops are hearing
about it like right here.

Right here, see, this is another
reason I don't like the city.

This right here.

I'm right here where I'm
supposed to be meeting a guy,

And there's a cop.

The last thing I need is
to get caught.

I get caught, and there goes
everybody's profit.

All right.

Hey.
What's going on, man?

$400?

Tickle:
He knows he wanted five gallons,

And he doesn't bring
enough money.

I don't feel
like I got time to sit here

And, you know,
haggle over price,

Which I'm not haggling
over price.

This costs what it costs.

He's gonna sell some of that.

He's gonna give me
the rest of the money.

You know,
this isn't a yard sale.

Narrator: Coming up...

Two old pros usher in
a new era...

But you love still beer
better than anybody I
ever seen in my life.

Oh, yeah.

...And one shiner's season
breaks down.

Tim: Hey. Easy.

Man.
How long is it gonna take?

Give us another week.

A week?

Narrator:
Along a secluded creek bed

On the edge
of eastern tennessee,

A centuries-old tradition is
taking shape.

Digger: You can smell the
fermentation's already started.

Narrator: With their corn
sprouted and ground into meal,

Seasoned shiners digger
and his partner, mark,

Are finally ready to prep
their high-proof harvest.

Ramsey: We're getting closer,
ain't we, digger?

Digger:
We're almost on it.

It's been a decade

Since these two turned
their back on the outlaw life,

But it's taken no time

For popcorn sutton's
former associates

To pick up where they left off.

That's pure water.
Yep.

Digger:
We're, right now, on a creek
at the edge of our still site.

We're gonna call this
our mash-in spot.

Ah.

We don't like to put our mash
and our still too close together

'cause if you lose one,
you still got the other.

We're fixing to make
a fresh run of mash today

And get it fermenting.

It should start percolating
by the morning.

If I can find my rag.

I don't like my mash being
real dirty.

He stripped
all of his clothes off.

Boy, I bet that's pretty.

I said, "did you still run
that liquor?"

He said, "oh, yeah."

I said,
"what did you call it?"

[ laughs ]

Narrator: Dozens
of nicknames have been used

For moonshine over the years.

The word itself was
first brought to america

By british settlers
some 300 years ago

To describe
illicit goods smuggled

Under the cover of darkness.

Since the passage
of prohibition,

Illegal booze has been known
by a variety of code names --

Rotgut, skull cracker,
panther's breath, mountain dew,

And the most famous,
white lightning,

Used to signify the clear,
colorless appearance

Of this american classic.

I like the little traps
you come up with.

That'll let that co2 bubble
out of there.

Digger:
The by-product of fermentation
is carbon-dioxide gas.

It'll blow the fittings off.

It'll blow the lids
off our barrels.

We lose our mash,
we lost our money.

Narrator: Most shiners
just cover their mash

With a piece of wood.

But digger's rig goes
a step further,

Allowing gas to safely get
out of the barrel

While ensuring
nothing else gets in.

Keeps our mash sterile
by keeping the bugs out it.

You'd have an issue with before

Where every gnat
in the neighborhood comes

To a barrel of mash.

I don't like gnats getting
anything

I want the end result of.
Do you?

Now, this one over here,

It should be dead
and ready to run.

Think it's ready?

Yeah, cap dropped
on it yesterday.

How'd you get
that leaf in there?

I'm just lucky.

Oh, yeah.

This is just cadillac'ing
right along.

Oh, yeah.

[ slurps ]

It's bitter?
[ chuckling ] ooh.

Well, it's bitter
on the front end,

Sweet on the back.

Narrator: When all the sugar has
been consumed by the yeast,

It'll leave a strong,
bitter taste,

A surefire sign
the mash is ready to distill.

That's good stuff,
though, ain't it?

Boy, I love it.

But you love still beer
better than anybody I
ever seen in my life.

Oh, yeah.

You got to be very careful
with it.

You drink too much of it,

It'll give you the [bleep]
something fierce.

I'm telling you.

Ohh, you'll [bleep]
through a keyhole.

It looks good, baby.
Man, smells good.

[ slurps ]

[ smacks lips ]

Be a shame
to turn that into liquor.

While mark and digger get ready

To run their first batch
deep in the wilderness,

70 miles to the east,
in asheville,

Tim is bringing a taste of
the backwoods to the big city.

J.C.: Got the tank
right over here.

We got it welded up.
Got the bottom in it.

We're back
at the fabricating shop,

And we're checking
on the worm barrel

Just to make sure that the guys
has got everything together.

That coil goes in here...
Troy: Yeah.

J.C.: ...And you'll have
about two inches

All the way around
the outside of it.

Tim: I don't want
to be running behind.

We got orders coming in.

I really got to get this thing
back to the distillery

And get it going.

Looks good.

It looks pretty.
Excellent job.

I see he's got the coil.

Troy: I don't know
if you're gonna get

The sulfates that you want
off of just this.

Narrator: Moonshiners
and legal distillers alike know

That copper is essential
to good-tasting liquor.

The more contact with copper,

The more foul-tasting sulfates
are removed from the product.

Tim: We need to get
another coil.

How hard would it be
to put another coil in there?

Just to be --
roll another one.

Roll another one?
A smaller one, yeah.

How long --
is it hard to roll?

It's not easy.

Yeah, and another 120 feet --
that'd be 240 feet.

Can we do it today?

Can we do it today?

Yeah.

Okay.

Let's get the copper.
Let's get the copper.

Come on, come on,
come on. Down.

It's just very crucial

That we hurry up
and get this done.

I got so many orders.

If I don't get all this done,
I'm gonna lose those sales.

Tim: Hey. Easy.

Man.

We done broke it loose
right there.

When you moved it,
it looked like it broke.

Is it breaking?
Yeah, it's bad.

J.C. Flattened
some of the sides down,

And when we did that,

We messed up some of
the couplings.

Lost that --
more money, more time.

It's putting pressure on me.

All right, what else, j.C.?
We got to go.

Go get the other one
and put in here.

Put that one together.
We're gonna take this one out.

Yeah, I've got to get
some more couplings.

I'm out of couplings.
We wasted this one right here.

You gonna go get
the coupling now?

When are you gonna get
the coupling?

No, I'm not gonna be able
to get it right this moment.

I got other jobs
I got to get back on.

How long does it take
to get the coupling?

Well,
I'll probably have the --

30 minutes?
I'll probably have -- no.

You know, we took this
and put the one coil in here.

You come in and want
another coil put in it,

And now you're wanting it done
immediately.

I got other customers,
also.

So, how long is it
gonna take?

I don't know.
But give us another week.

A week?
You know?

A week?

We'll try to get it
sooner than that,

But right now,
let's shoot for a week

So we don't disappoint you

When it's not ready
in three days.

Okay.

It boiled down to
we all had to separate,

And he's got to get
some more parts.

He doesn't have all the
couplings to put it together,

And all at the same time,

We added more time
and more money.

I can't afford all this stuff.

Narrator: Coming up...

A first run up in flames...

Mark: There's a fire.
Jeff: Where?

Under the still
get it.

Bill: We got a little
hornets' nest in the bush here.

Josh gonna try to get it
with a shotgun.

I ain't gonna try.
I am gonna get it.

[ shotgun clicks ]

That's what I'm talking about.
They going crazy?

Bill: Get 'em.

Josh: Ha-ha! Yeah!

You didn't get it high enough!
You didn't get it high enough!

[ hornets buzzing ]
are you serious?

I'm serious.
Hit 'em again!

They are pissed.

[ buzzing continues ]

Ugh!

[bleep]
yellow jackets.

I got stung by a yellow jacket
in the eyeball.

How bad is it, dude?

Bill: You got any benadryl
in the house?

I can't even open
my [bleep] eye, dude.

You want me run up
to the gas station

And get some benadryl?

If you ask me that again,
I'm liable to scream.

[ chuckles ]

Narrator:
In south carolina,

Another day and another setback
for josh and bill.

Josh: Slick in here today.
Bill: Yeah, it is.

With their dam broken,
their still sits dry,

And precious days are
slipping by.

Well, even after
I fixed our dam,

We still had a problem

That the plastic around the
sides wasn't quite high enough.

Narrator: So now the boys are
on to plan "b."

Josh: You know, I told bill to
get a bigger piece of plastic.

Bill:
It's damn nasty out.

I think he finally come around
to my way of thinking.

All right,
you ready to do this?

We got us another
bigger tarp out here.

Josh: Sometimes, bill is like
having three or four left hands,

And they're all helpful,

But sometimes
they kind of work against you.

What do you think, bill?
Yeah. Yeah.

Josh: I can't make you
understand my frustration,

But at the end of the day,
we're still brothers

No matter how aggravated
we get with each other.

Sometimes, I think we could
strangle each other, you know?

I think we might need to do
the same thing with this one

Done with the other one is get
this front edge tucked up under.

I'll bring a shovel
and a sledgehammer.

I got a sledge
down here somewhere.

A country boy just does
what he can with what he can.

Bill:
Josh has been working really
hard at keeping his temper down,

But sometimes I just poke
and push on him just enough,

But he's usually pretty good
about resetting

And knowing that I don't mean
any harm by him.

I just --
yeah, he picks on me, too.

We got us a pond, brother.
Yeah.

I mean,
that pot's filling up.

What would really be nice is
if we had some way

Of putting some screening
in the front of it

To keep anything
from flowing in it.

Josh: The dam's done.
The water supply's in.

A lot of the stuff's toted
down here.

I feel damn good about it.

That's a good sign.

I'll say
that's plenty of pressure.

Plenty of flow,
plenty of volume.

This is a work of art.

Been busting a hump
with all them rocks and [bleep]

Let's take,
like, a 10-minute break.

We still got
some work ahead of us.

We ain't out of the woods yet.

Josh: [ chuckling ]
I saw that, dude.

[ laughs ]

You sure
you don't want a hot dog?

Bill:
Eat maybe two of them burgers --
that'll be plenty for me.

[ siren chirps ]

He's stopping
behind your truck.

Yes, sir?

Josh:
How's it going, officer?

Hey.
How you doing?

Officer carswell.
Campobello police department.

Well,
I noticed this tag

When I was driving
through the parking lot.

We had a bolo out for a vehicle
matching this description

For trespassing
on some property.

We ain't been doing
no trespassing.

Had a busted taillight.

Everything matches
the same description.

You don't know anything
about it?

No, sir.

What you doing
with the metal back here?

Bill:
I had a roofing job.

I had to do a roofing job
earlier this week.

With copper?

Yeah, yeah.
It was a copper roof.

That metal sure does look

A little bit like something
you'd do for a roof.

It looks like
some of the makings

Of what would go
for a moonshine still.

Y'all got any I.D.'s
on you?

Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.

Mind if I see them
just for a second?

Narrator:
In robbinsville,

Mark, jeff,
and lance are finally ready

To fire up
their 760-gallon still.

But with zero sales so far

And $20,000 of debt
piling up fast,

Their season hinges
on this single run.

Once the still's lit
and the shine begins to pour,

They could be committing
at least a half dozen felonies,

So mark's making
one final perimeter check.

Mark:
Hunt her up.

With over 700 gallons
of boiling mash

Surrounded by wood on all sides,

The boys' setup is a tinderbox
waiting to ignite at any moment.

Waiting for the moonshine
to go to running.

Yeah, we're in flash mode now
filling jugs.

Narrator: This still is built to
run around the clock,

A first for mark, jeff,
and lance,

And the reality
of 24-hour shining is

Just starting to sink in.

Mark:
Hey, jeff.

Jeff: Yeah?

There's a fire.

Gosh, almighty.

Next time on "moonshiners"...

Josh:
We're gonna have 600 gallons
of moonshine in the ground.

Narrator: ...Josh
and bill go underground...

Josh:
The cops got us on record.

You get caught,
you go to jail.

Narrator: ...Tickle's
mother lode goes missing...

Tickle: This place is just a --
it's a maze.

Shine may be lost.

...And the law tightens its grip
in north carolina.

[ siren wails ]