Moonshiners (2011–…): Season 9, Episode 8 - Toxic Work Environment - full transcript
Tickle's carpentry skills shine as Virginia outlaws plan a risky mod to their still. Mark and Digger take a big swing on a small ingredient that can't pass the sniff test. Josh digs deep and uncovers the worst way to foster a toxi...
Narrator: on this episode
Of "Moonshiners"...
-taking a long time.
-I agree.
I just don't see us getting
Any at this rate.
And I'm glad
You brought that up
Because I got
An idea last night.
I want to put
A heater box in.
The hell is a heater box?
A backwoods hack cranks up
The volume in franklin county.
Tickle:
This heater box is almost
A lost piece of technology.
This is going to double
Our production.
I believe we need to get eight
Or 10 bags of barley seed.
What are you talking about,
Just malting our own?
Malt our own.
Narrator: a key ingredient
Isn't passing
The smell test in tennessee.
Ew! *bleep*. Damn.
That smells like
An anchovy's ass.
Try not to put your arms
All over the pole
Because that creosote
Will burn the piss out of you.
What do you mean?
Give you, like, a rash,
Burned my arms all up.
Narrator: and in north carolina,
Josh brings new meaning
To the words
Toxic work environment.
Creosote is a mixture
Of several chemicals that --
Creosote is also toxic.
Creosote is also toxic.
Damn.
Man: this is how we make
The moonshine!
Captions paid for by
Discovery communications
Henry: tickle, fire this up.
♪♪
It won't be long now.
Looks good,
Nice and pretty.
There we go.
All right, guys.
Narrator: in the hills
Of central virginia,
Tickle, henry and kenny
Are firing up
Their fourth batch
Of peach brandy this week.
Even with multiple runs a week,
The three partners are only
A quarter of the way
Towards their season goal.
We've been making runs
Of peach brandy
For a while now,
And I'll tell you what.
It is a time-consuming process.
Alright.
Sure we could put a little bit
More fire under this thing
And heat our mash up faster
And try to run faster,
But then we wind up
With an inferior product.
It's ready to cap.
And you might as well not run
If you have good brandy
Coming out of the worm.
Afraid it's just a darn
Waiting game now.
Yep.
You want to run it slow.
You've got to run it slow
To get a good product.
Only thing you can do:
Sit there and watch it.
Kenny: taking a long time.
I agree because look.
I ain't out here to run
1,999 gallons with you.
I'm out here to run 2,000.
We wouldn't
Do you like that.
I know, but I want to get
Where we supposed to be.
Henry, kenny and I have been
Making good moonshine,
But I can't lie to you.
At the rate we're going,
I don't see us hitting
That 2,000-gallon mark.
If we don't reach
That 2,000 gallons,
I don't get my $100,000.
Henry: looks like a little
Stream coming there.
-it's about time.
-yeah.
We got to figure out a way
To speed this process up
If we're ever going to reach
That 2,000-gallon mark.
You know, henry, I just don't
See us getting it at this rate.
And I'm glad
You brought that up
Because I got an idea
Last night.
What do you want to do?
You want to put another pond in?
I want to put
A heater box in.
The hell is a heater box?
Long time ago,
I worked with this guy.
It was running rye liquor.
I noticed his box sitting above
His still sitting like this
Right here, and when we finished
That still full,
He hit a valve,
And this mash was in here,
Ran over in the still,
And we had liquor in 5 minutes.
A heater box, now I understand
The concept.
You're heating up mash
For the next run
While we're making a run.
I'm just not 100 percent sure
How this thing works.
Narrator: after 6 hours
Of running,
Tickle, henry and kenny
Have only 36 gallons,
But a heater box will
Double their current output,
Putting their season goal
Back within reach.
Show me what
You're talking about.
There's very few things that you
Can do to speed up the process
Once you cap a still,
So I got this heater-box idea.
That would help us.
If we do that, we may be able
To reach our goal.
If not, we in trouble.
♪♪
♪♪
Let's get this barrelled up and
Get on to bigger better things.
Narrator: in cocke county,
Tennessee, mark and digger
Are aging a run
Of popcorn sutton legacy
Shine that wasn't up
To snuff.
Well, ain't that little
Thing snazzy?
I hear that a lot.
Mark: our last run,
It didn't turn out
As well as we had hoped.
There we go.
It's fine liquor, but it's not
Popcorn sutton legacy liquor,
And we can't sell it as such.
Narrator: with the shortage
Of malted barley,
Mark and digger
Tried substituting rolled barley
In their recipe.
Damn it.
That isn't it, puss.
There ain't nothing wrong
With it, but it ain't it.
But the flavor profile of the
Finished product wasn't a match,
And without the ingredients
To make more of their
Best-selling liquor,
The boys had no choice
But to break the bad news
To their new bootlegger, daniel.
We don't got no more
Popcorn sutton legacy liquor.
Damn, fellas.
That puts me in a bind bad.
I've got multiple customers
Wanting the hell out of that.
That's real good liquor,
Puss.
Digger: it'll be even better
Liquor after it sits in there
3 or 4 years.
Well, right now,
It's $100-a-gallon liquor.
Three or 4 years,
It'll be $200-gallon liquor.
We'll lose a little bit of it
To the angels' share but...
Yeah, and that fellow
That's holding the hose
Leaking it over
The side's share.
That count as the angels'
Share, too?
I am an angel.
That's what your mama
Always called you,
My little angel.
Little angel.
I like barreling this liquor up
For somewhere down the road,
But this ain't sellable
For legacy liquor,
And, you know, we got
To get back on track.
I mean,
We're behind bad, bad.
There is a malted-barley
Shortage right now going on,
And it's affecting
Our business terribly.
We can't make our damn flagship
Liquor this season without it.
We're letting
Our customers down.
We're letting daniel down.
Well,
What I'm thinking is,
I believe we need to get eight
Or 10 bags of barley seed.
What are you talking about,
Just malting our own?
Malt our own.
We'll let the sprouts
Get up pretty good-sized.
We'll kill it, dry it out,
Grind it,
And we'll have
Our own malted barley.
Narrator: when barley
Is harvested,
A tough outer hull
Locks away sugars
And carbohydrates essential
For fermentation.
The process of malting involves
Soaking and warming the grains
To activate sprout growth
Which is stopped by heating
And drying the sprouted
Grain before grinding it.
The malting process also unlocks
Enzymes in the grain
Allowing brewers and distillers
To ferment the sugars inside.
Do you know how to build
A damn grain house?
Nope, but I reckon
We're fixing to learn.
Malting your own barley,
It's not hard for the most part,
But it takes some time.
It starts up a little air here,
And there it goes.
That's about all
We're going to get.
We'd much rather buy it
Already malted,
But we ain't got no choice.
If we don't sprout and make
Our own malted barley,
We're not going to be selling
The popcorn sutton
Legacy liquor.
Let's move on to bigger
And better stuff.
Hell, let's go find us
Some barley seed.
What do you say?
-say, that sounds like a plan.
If not, what do you say
We go apply for jobs somewhere?
♪♪
♪♪
Ooh, boy! Easy!
Man, that was close.
That was bad.
Narrator: across the state line
On the piedmont plateau,
Josh is finishing
The roof of his underground
Still site with the help of cuz
And moonshine apprentice colt.
Right now, we're putting
Two-by-fours
On the face of this.
That's going to enable us
To plant some grass.
Once the roots take ahold,
It's going to
Stay on here forever.
You won't even be able
To tell this is here.
It's going to be cool, ain't it?
Yes, sir.
It's going to be awesome.
This still site is not like
Any other still site.
It's not like we went down here
To the hardware store,
And I bought
A set of plans.
Put that right there.
That's all you got to do,
And then we plant grass on it.
This come out of my brain,
So I wanted to make this damn
Highest quality
That I possibly can.
Man,
This is going to be great.
When we get all the stuff
Growing in here,
You won't be able
To tell it's here.
We'll be able
To brush it in.
I'm excited to be able to make
Some moonshine down here.
Let's grab a still.
Now that we got the roof on,
It's time to get the still in,
Put it all together
And make it fit.
I got a 275-gallon
Copper pot out here.
I'm building a furnace
With this still,
And it's going to have
A chimney coming up in it.
Because we're working in a hole,
It's very important to catch
All that hot air
And pull it out of my room.
Narrator: in josh's
Underground bunker,
A 250-gallon still will be set
Inside a large steel furnace.
Smoke and fumes generated
By the furnace
Will flow
Through a vent pipe
Into a large aluminum
Manifold on the ceiling.
The aluminum manifold, or hood,
Will safely carry the fumes
And smoke to the surface
Where they will exit
Through a camouflaged chimney
Leaving the air in the bunker
Clean and smoke-free.
Yeah,
We got a hide that chute.
That cap is going to be at least
14 inches taller,
So that's going to have
A chimney coming up in it.
Well, there ain't no way
That's going to work,
So what are we
Going to do here?
We're going to have to
Either dig down
Or freaking build
A different still.
I guess we'll just dig down
Because it'll be a lot easier
To dig down
Than make another still.
That's true.
I'm not like everybody else.
I do things different.
When I build things,
I usually build things
Without a plan because...
I don't know.
I'm a visual learner.
I do things on sight.
Cuz, why aren't you
Digging a rock pile?
Well, this whole thing
Is a rock pile.
That's the problem.
I could go to a smaller pot,
But I'm ready to hit
The ground running,
And I got a still,
And I'm ready to use it.
Let's go make it work.
We're digging our way
To china as you can see.
It'd be all right with me
If I never, ever, ever,
Ever dug anything ever again
As long as I live.
I'm tired of digging my way
In and out of holes.
Where'd my help go?
[ laughs ]
Narrator: coming up...
All this has done is got us
At least 2 weeks behind.
...In tennessee, digger gets
Caught up in his work.
Damn.
Well...
Hey, you been itching
For a damn vasectomy.
Hold my left nut for me,
Will you?
Try not to put your arms
All over the pole
Because that creosote
Will burn the piss out of you.
-what do you mean?
-burned my arms all up.
If it's bad to touch,
Wouldn't it be bad to breathe?
♪♪
All this has done is got us damn
At least 2 weeks behind.
Yep.
Narrator:
In cocke county, tennessee,
Mark and digger
Are constructing
A greenhouse
Behind their workshop
To sprout their very own supply
Of malted barley,
A must-have ingredient in their
Popcorn sutton legacy liquor.
Daniel is calling
Every damn evening
Wanting to know when he can get
Another run of this liquor.
I'll tell you one thing.
He's a selling machine,
Ain't he?
You ain't a *bleep*.
Mark: you know, luckily,
Me and old digger,
We got ahold
Of some barley seed.
Ronald, our farmer friend,
He let us have 200 pound.
Digger: we've just got to get
These seeds sprouting,
Get them malting,
If you will.
We'll wrap this whole thing
In plastic.
In about a week, we should have
Little fuzzy grain
Sprouting out about that long.
The framework of this greenhouse
Is made out
Of electric conduit tubing.
It'll hold the weight.
See, every one of these trays
Is going to hold 10,
15 pound of grain.
We'll put pans in there
With grain in every bin,
Soak it in water,
Let it sprout.
When they get up
About that high,
We'll lay them out on the ground
In the hot sunlight,
Dry them and grind it up just
Like they do in the factory.
We didn't study and tinker
And work with that recipe
To cut corners on it now.
No, you can't.
Mark: we worked really hard
To figure out the exact grains
That we needed
In the popcorn legacy liquor.
This malted-barley shortage,
You've got so many
Craft brewers.
They use it, and that's where
It's eating it up,
But we have to have it.
It's not an option.
Probably going to take this
A week to malt.
Then, time we make it, another
Week to work our mash off.
Yep.
If that don't work,
Then we're 3 weeks behind.
We're a week behind already,
But we're going
To come out swinging.
This has to work for us.
If not, why, then we're in
For a horrible, horrible season.
Damn.
Damn.
[ laughs ]
Well, you been itching
For a damn vasectomy.
I didn't want
To get circumscribed
At the same time, though.
Well, I'm actually going
To be honest with you now.
If it's all
The same with you,
I'm ain't going
To help you none.
Hold my left nut for me,
Will you?
*bleep*.
I got her, boy.
One, two, three.
Yeah, they're
All three there.
[ laughs ]
*bleep* damn.
It's crucial that we sprout
These enough
That we can get some malt flavor
And the musty overtones we need.
All we're after is what's
In the center of this hull,
And then we want it sprouted,
And then once we get that,
Then we know
We've got enough flavor
And convertible carbohydrates.
Sure has soaked up a lot
Of water already, ain't it?
Mark: we've got 200 pound
Of seed.
By the time it's sprouted
And dried and ground,
This could set us up a couple
3 weeks worth of liquor mash,
You know, if things go good,
The temperature stays warm.
Look at that.
Now ain't that pretty?
Digger: it may work, and it may
Be a complete failure.
Look all right?
Yeah.
We don't know until things
Get to rolling our direction.
I'll have to water it
Again tomorrow.
That'll be all right,
I guess.
♪♪
Hey. Come on in here, guys,
And I'll show you
What I'm talking about
With this heater box.
Got a metal detector, huh?
Narrator:
North of the state line
In franklin county, virginia...
Was trying to explain it
To you down there,
But the visual
Is much better.
...To speed up progress
On their runs of peach brandy,
Tickle, henry and kenny
Are designing a heater box.
This box here
Is the heater box.
Now inside this heater box
Is our mash.
The whole trick of it is,
I got a small coil worm in here.
It heats that mash right
To the boiling point.
Narrator: a heater box is a tool
Used by moonshiners
To warm the second batch of mash
While the first is running,
Saving time when running
Back-to-back batches.
Steam from the still is rerouted
Through a copper coil
That sits in the heater box
Bringing the mash contained
Inside close to distillation
Temperature.
When the first run is complete,
The spent mash is drained,
And the contents
Of the heater box
Are immediately
Dumped into the still.
Within minutes,
As opposed to hours,
Liquor will be pouring
From the condenser again.
Tickle: any little thing
Is going to help us out.
Things are just taking
Too long for us
To get this
2,000 gallons out.
I've never run anything
Like this,
But I can definitely see
The advantages of it.
Let's get one of these things
Put together.
Henry had a bigger box than what
We needed sitting around here,
So we cut it down
To fit the size that we need.
Hey, tickle.
You need some earplugs?
No.
I can't hear noways.
Alright.
I say we can roll her box now.
What'd you say?
[ laughs ]
It's going to be a plywood box,
And we will route our steam
Through this box,
Through the coil that we're
Going to build and put in there,
And it heats our mash up
For the next run
Until it's right to the point
Of being ready
To make moonshine with.
Henry: should've cut some more
Off of this yonder.
Yeah. I can do that.
♪♪
There we go.
It's going to cost us
1/2 day here doing this,
But we'll be able to get
The darn brandy run.
Tickle: we're going
To build this box.
Then we've got to build
A base underneath it,
And this base has got
To be very strong.
With 200 gallons
Of mash in there,
This box is subject
To weigh about 1,600 pounds.
Henry:
It doesn't have to be perfect.
It's not like building a house.
I'm not looking at perfection,
Henry.
I'm looking at it not
Falling down.
But a real cobbler can't help
Himself, and that's you.
Yeah.
This is true.
A lot of people might look
At that and say,
"Boy, that's way overbuilt,"
But I'm planning on putting
1,600 pounds of hot stuff
Up on top of there
Up in the air,
And we can't take a chance
On this thing
Falling down with hot mash in it
And kill somebody.
Kill somebody.
Yep.
Alright.
That'll be our last leg.
-ready? One, two three.
-two, three. Go.
Alright.
This won't be too high
To get the mash in.
Yeah,
It ain't bad at all.
We decided to go
With a square one.
When we calculate these coils
That go in that heater box,
It's very tricky.
It's got a lot to do
With how cold is your beer
And the number of gallons
That's going to be
In that heater box.
That's how I know just
About the amount
Of copper
To put in there.
Kenny: that right there ought
To work good.
Tickle: I think it will.
This heater box is --
It's almost a lost piece
Of technology
Because they used to use
These way back in the day,
And what this is going to do
Is just about
Double our production.
That's got a pretty good pitch
On it, ain't it?
Yeah, it's going on downhill
Though pretty good.
Alright.
There you go.
Ooh.
We're one step closer
To a heater box.
Could you get me up
Just a touch?
That'll work.
-that should do it.
-yeah.
Tell you what, looks good.
Get it loaded up
And get it to still site.
♪♪
♪♪
Whoa.
That's a pretty far fall
If you slip up, ain't it?
Narrator: in the backwoods
Of polk county,
Josh, cuz and colt
Are constructing a ventilation
System to keep smoke,
Soot and heat
From entering the bunker.
So this is, like,
For ventilation, right?
-yep.
-yeah.
I got to build a vent system
To attach to my chimney.
So this is probably
The first time
You ever had
To make a hood like this.
I've never made a hood
In my life.
It's going to suck all my gases,
All my heat,
All my stuff out of my site
So it's not a toxic still site.
If I don't have good airflow
In this bunker,
Then we're probably going to die
From carbon-monoxide poisoning.
Let's caulk
The hell out of it.
I never thought making a site
Would be this complicated.
Lay it thick
And leave a bead.
There's a art
And a science to this.
I feel like I'm learning it,
You know, as I go.
What we're going to do
Right now:
We're going to flip it over
Just, like, metal side down.
Yeah.
We're going to hold it up
And going to run a screw
In the plywood.
All right.
Our still site
Is almost complete,
And it's been
A lot of work.
Right there, right there, cuz.
It's just this headache
After that headache.
It's just one thing
After another,
But now that
I'm getting our vent in,
We can put our pot in, make
Some mash, make some moonshine.
Try not to damn put your arms
All over the pole
Because that creosote will
Burn the piss out of you.
-what do you mean?
-give you, like, a rash.
Burned my arms all up,
My eyes.
Narrator: to build the roof
Of his bunker,
Josh used more than a dozen
Telephone poles
That came coated with
A preservative called creosote.
-it ain't real bad, is it?
-what do you mean?
Colt: well, I mean, hell, josh,
If it's bad to touch,
Wouldn't it be bad to breathe?
I've noticed, like,
A sore throat
Once he said something
About touching it,
Kind of just
All clicked in my head.
We probably shouldn't be
Breathing it.
Well, I mean,
You ain't breathing it.
How you figure?
You don't smell it in the air?
I mean, if you was burning it
Or something.
We ain't burning it.
I've been around telephone polls
And crossties all my life.
I knew we was going to smell it
A little bit, not a big deal.
-but you smell it in the air.
-so what?
You ever been around
Railroad trusses?
What do they smell like?
It's just a smell.
I'm really, like, just trying
To explain to him
That it's more
About extreme cases
Where you're going
To get sick.
-josh.
-what?
Come here.
So that creosote stuff
You talking about not touching,
It says you can't
Breathe it either
In a enclosed place
Like this.
We're not burning it.Yeah, but it's enclosed.
Look.
Look right here.
Just look.
I got it right here.
It says, "Creosote is a mixture
Of several chemicals."
"Creosote is also toxic."
"Creosote is also toxic."
Colt: it says you
Can't breathe it either in
A enclosed place like this.
We're not burning it.Yeah, but it's enclosed
Look.
It says...
"Creosote is also toxic."
"Creosote is also toxic."
Narrator: in polk county,
North carolina,
Installing their
Ventilation system,
Josh makes
An unsettling discovery.
The telephone polls he used
To build this site
Were treated with creosote,
A chemical hazardous to humans.
Once he said something
About touching it,
It kind of just
All clicked in my head.
We probably shouldn't
Be breathing it.
"Creosote is a mixture
Of several chemicals
That can be very dangerous."
-that's what I'm saying.
-alright.
Well, gasoline is very toxic
And dangerous too, right?
And we handle it
All the time.
Well, I'm not going to go up
There and sniff it.
Well, I used to.
It's like driving a nail
In a steel poll
Trying to get him to think about
What's really important here.
Narrator: in the 1800s,
Creosote was first derived
From the wood of beech trees.
With a smoky flavor, creosote
Was used as a food preservative
And by prohibition-era
Moonshiners
To mimic scotch's smoky flavor,
But made from coal tar,
Creosote is an industrial-grade
Wood preservative
Used to prevent rot
On railroad ties,
Harbor pilings
And telephone poles.
"One of the more common
Of wood preservatives
Is creosote which
Contains chemicals like..."
What is that?I mean...
Some *bleep* I can't even
Pronounce.
The point is...
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah....You can't breathe it.
Whatever.That's the point.
"Polychriticaeromatichydro-
Carbons
That can volatize
Into the air."
Into your lungs,
Into your throat.
I believe that's what
You're talking about.
That is what
I'm talking about.
I mean, think about it this way.
You're going to put
Your mash barrels in here with
*bleep* that you can
Breathe toxic,
And you're going to put
Your mash barrels in here?
It's a toxin.
You're breathing it right now.
Just think about it.
Josh: from what I've gathered
From reading, this is true.
If you can smell it,
You are breathing toxins,
So if you are
Breathing toxins,
It doesn't make a whole lot
Of sense for me
To build a still site
That's toxic, does it?
So what we going
To do now?
I don't know.
I don't know what to do
Right now
With everybody is complaining
About creosote in there,
And my guys don't want
To work in it.
I don't want to work
In it either,
And if it's really a toxin
In the air,
I don't want my mash in it,
So now I don't know exactly how
To fix it, but we're going to.
♪♪
♪♪
You can see it's been
Precipitating down in there,
Raining like
It's supposed to.
Narrator: across the state line
In tennessee,
After waiting 3 days,
Mark and digger
Return to the greenhouse
To check on the progress
Of their sprouted barley.
Ooh! Damn!
Damn!
Oh, my *bleep*.
That smells like
An anchovy's ass.
They're full of water.
Look at that.
Lord, have mercy.
Oh, hell.
[ gags ]
Don't puke on me now,
Margaret.
Man, it smells like a maggot
On a gut wagon in there.
There's something horribly,
Horribly wrong.
Look at all that water
Precipitated
And rained down
Back in to these,
And it didn't
Evaporate none.
What has happened:
The water evaporated up
And then rained back down
In these top bins.
They didn't have any way
Of draining,
So they drowned new seeds,
And the heat started them
Rottening.
It's all ruined.
Shoo, damn.
All that money gone.
Mark:
We have to have the barley malt
To provide the necessary flavor.
I mean, we cannot make this
Legacy liquor without it.
Son of a bitch.
Wait a minute.
Look right yonder.
We're all right.
Look at these.Them is perfect.
Now that there is the way
They're supposed to look,
Baby man.
Yep. See, they're
Just a solid mat.
They bound the roots together
Like they're supposed to.
Ideally, to get the flavor
We need, bare minimum inch
And half, 2 inches
Worth of sprout of them.
The roots also work well.
They've got carbohydrate,
But the green is where
The majority of it's at.
The ones on topsoil,
It didn't take.
All the totes in the lower
Levels are doing well.
Mark: you know,
They're sprouting,
Starting to get
A little fuzz on them
And stick up
And peep through.
I say we just dump them.
What do you say?
Dump them just right
Bottom side up?
Yep.
Let's see how this does.
Oh, yeah.
Shoot, boy.
It's malty, ain't it?Yes, it is.
That's what
We're looking for.
Ready? Go.
Oh, yeah.
These seeds where
They have sprouted,
They're thicker than hair
On a hog's back.
They're big.
They're strong.
Oh, and it's sticky,
Loaded with carbs, good sugars.
We couldn't have asked for
Anything better at this point.
We've still got
A lot to learn
About this barley-malting
Business,
But this is
Going to work.
Yep.
Digger: it's amazing just what
A little bit of malted barley
Will do to the flavor
Of an alcohol.
You can't mimic it.
More complex, that only comes
From the sprouts
And the roots of any seed
That you malt.
We let mother nature
Take care of this.
Me and you ain't going to help
It dry no better at this point.
We feel we're in
A good spot now.
Our sprouted malt barley
Is ready to dry.
We get it ground up,
Get it in buckets,
Get it transported
To the still site.
We're ready to mash back in on
Legacy liquor.
-coming up...
-aww, *bleep*.
Josh: something we hadn't
Accounted for:
Still is too tall.
Narrator: ...In north carolina,
As setbacks pile up,
Josh inches closer
To his breaking point.
After everything that's happened
To me this season,
After all the broken bones
And for not making
Any moonshine,
After not making
Any money...
Should explain
What's going on here.
I don't know
What the *bleep* I'm doing.
I can't *bleep* get *bleep*
To go right no more.
♪♪
Tickle" all right.
Come on back, henry.
Come on back.
Straight on.
Straight on.
Yep. Alright.
Just want to ease it
On down in.
Narrator: in the woods
Of central virginia,
Desperate to speed up progress
Towards their 2,000-gallon goal,
Tickle, henry and kenny
Are ready to set up
And test their new heater box.
This heel needs to come off
A little bit over there.
I'll tell you what,
I'm liking it.
That right there is
Good and sturdy.
Yeah.
We put a whole lot of work
Into this heater box,
So today we're going to
Hook it up onto the still.
We're going to make us a run,
And we're going to see
How this thing works.
Henry: yep.
That's going to be perfect.
Let's get some mash
In the still, fire it up...
Going to ahead
And get her heating up.
...Watch this heat,
And then we can work that
And save us about an hour.
-okay.
Henry: when you're running any
Kind of moonshine operation,
It's a little nerve-racking,
I guess you'd say,
But brandy is even tougher.
It's a lot harder to run,
And you're so busy.
The law is always on you.
Ready to fire it up?
Can't get out
Of an old 35 tour.
The quicker you get that fire
Under that still,
The quicker you get
Out that day so...
And once I get my mash
In the still,
I always put the fire
To it right away.
Alright.
Plenty of time to get all this
Little stuff done
While it's heating up
Before we cap it.
Lot of people has lost
A lot of liquor
By being in there
30 minutes too long.
So we added this heater box in,
So we've got
To reroute everything
Because it's going to come
From the pot,
Go over here
Into our thumper.
Then it's going to come out of
Our thumper into the heater box.
We have a coil in there,
So we're heating up
The next run of mash
While we're making this
Run of liquor.
That way, when we go to fill
That pot back again,
It'll be ready to run,
And in just a few minutes,
We've got moonshine coming out.
This thing works like
It's supposed to,
It's really going to increase
Our production a lot.
This heater box,
If it works right,
It's going to be great,
But there's all kinds of stuff
That could go wrong
With this thing.
If we don't have
Enough coils in here,
It won't bring our mash
Up to temperature,
And it's basically useless.
If we have too much coil
In here,
It can go on ahead
And start cooking our mash,
And all of our brandy
Will be going
Right up in the air
With a sting,
So there's a bunch of things
That could go wrong here.
Hell, far as we know, the side
Could bust off of this thing
And could kill somebody.
Kenny: there you go.
Yeah.
She's about ready.
Yeah.
Go ahead and cap it off.
Alright.
You can learn a whole lot
If you really watch close
And you pay attention
Who you hang around with.
Henry and kenny, they been
Doing this for a long time.
You can almost work with these
Guys and never speak a word,
And that speaks volumes
About their experience.
We've went to the heater box.
Now we've tracked it all the way
Down this long pipe here,
And I've tracked it
To right here.
It's so hot.
You can't even touch it.
So now it's going to come back
Down this branch worm,
And by then, it's going to be
Turned into the moonshine.
Should be any minute now.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
We're rock and rolling now.
While you've got this steam
Coming out of that cap hole,
From that point on,
We control that steam.
We take it
Where we want it to go,
But moonshining,
You don't know.
Everything looks good today.
Five minutes from now,
We've lost it all,
So you can never count your
Money until you've got it run.
You've got everything out,
And you got your brandy
In storage,
And you got your still
Place out and put up.
Tickle: make some shine floating
On down the creek, won't it?
Floating on down the creek.
-it's going to be perfect.
Y'all ready? Let's do it.
-alright.
Tickle: alright.
Might ought to use this
To hold that.
Let me drive
The plug back in.
Alright.
Open him up.
Off she goes.
-how hot is it?
*bleep*.
God almighty.
That's what a heater box
Is all about.
Tell you what, that thing
Will be ready to run in no time.
This heater box
Is working so good
That I just can't
For the life of me figure out
Why we didn't put
This thing on here before.
That looks good.
Well, look.
Yep, they look to be running.
It's running.
Make a world of difference.
Be damned she ain't
Pumping her out there.
She's rolling it on out good,
Good and cold, too.
Yes, sir.
I'm going to get
Some more mash in.
You know, this allows us
To run our shine faster,
But it takes quite a lot of mash
To run a batch of moonshine,
And now we need
That much more.
Tickle, henry and kenny jar
Up 71 gallons of peach brandy
On back-to-back runs
With the heater box installed,
But to maintain
Their increased output,
They'll need twice as much mash.
Kenny: that thing working
Smooth as a top.
♪♪
♪♪
He tell you anything?He ain't told me nothing.
I ain't going down there
Until we figure out a solution.
Narrator: across the state line
In north carolina...
There he is.
Yeah.
...With toxic chemicals
Leaking from the wood
Used to build his roof...
Going on?
...Josh is stuck on the outside
Looking in at his own
Still site.
What's going on
This morning?
-going on, brother?
-what's up, cuz?
Waiting on you to get here.
Colt:
What's your plan today?
You want us
To keep breathing it?
I don't know.
I don't know what to do.
Done gone too far
To stop.
I don't know exactly how
To cure the problem,
So I don't want to make
You guys breathe that.
Don't want to no more
Than I have to.
Yeah, I don't want
To breathe it.
These telephone poles being
Coated in creosote is a problem,
And I can't have my guys
In there getting sick,
And I'm damn sure
Not going to be
Making my liquor
In there neither.
Let's just work on the furnace
Out here today
Until I figure out
What we're going to do.
Let's do it.
This may be a major setback,
But we can't let this stop us.
Since we can't work
Down below,
It only makes sense to fix
What we can above.
Anybody remember how tall
The still was?
Five-eight,
Something like that.
And the way the furnace
Is going to work
Is the still sits
Inside of a tank...
That's 73 inches
Right there.
I'm going to go measure
The still.
Alright.
We're going to cut a hole
Out of that,
And that's where the burner
Or the fire is going in.
Damn.
Aw, *bleep*.
Something we hadn't
Accounted for
Is the 16 inches
That is the part of the cape.
Unless we dig down some more,
The still is too tall.
Damn.
So even after we've already dug
This thing down,
We still ain't got
It dug down enough.
Damn.
We did all that digging
For nothing.
Why don't you explain
What's going on here
Because I don't really
Understand.
What is there not
To explain?
You just miscounted?
Is that what happened?
No matter how you slice it,
Unless we dig down,
The still is too tall still.
I don't know what the *bleep*
I'm doing.
I can't *bleep* get *bleep*
To go right no more.
I'm tired.
We can't really work in there.
I cannot believe
Those poles are toxic.
After everything that's happened
To me this season,
After all the broken bones
And not making any moonshine,
After not making any money,
I'm financially
Broke all to hell...
All right, y'all.
I can't stand it.
I'm serious.
...All the bull *bleep* that
Keeps happening,
Right now I just need somebody
To come and help me out.
[ phone rings ]
Hello?
Mr. Tickle.
Hey.
How's it going there, josh?
♪♪
Hmm.
Well, that was stupid.
I'm seeing way too many pockets
This morning.
You know, mark and I
Were out late last night,
And we were drinking
Pretty heavy.
I'm just looking through
Beer goggles today,
And they don't always focus the
Exact same as your regular eyes.
Every time one of them
Balls hit together,
Does your damn feel like wax
Is flying out your ears?
You're busting
Your head so bad?
No, but every time I bend over,
Hot water rolls up my mouth.
[ laughs ]
But they say I had a blast.
We appeared to.
Narrator: mark and digger
Have racked up
586 gallons on the season.
Tickle and the laws
Have now sunk
527 gallons
In the corner pocket
While josh is still stuck
Behind the eight ball.
Digger: what say me and you grab
Some barley malt, medium coarse?
Narrator: with their homegrown
Batch of malted barley dried,
Mark and digger are ready
To grind it up,
Mash it in and get back
To making moonshine.
Mark: they dried out.
That hot sun hit them.
It ain't bone-dry,
But it's dry enough to grind.
Well, we ain't got
No more time to fool with.
Nuh-uh.
Once you lose money and time,
You don't get either
One of them back,
And we've lost
A tremendous amount of both,
But we feel
We're in a good spot now.
Our malt barley, it's ready
To grind up,
And we get it ground up,
Get it in buckets.
It's where it needs
To be right now.
Big-head ted here, it's served
Us pretty good, ain't it?
Yeah.
This old grinder, digger,
He made this thing
Several years ago.
We've used it and used it.
Every year, we threaten
To get us another one,
A better one,
But it's working fine,
And I'm just thankful to have
Something to put in it to grind.
All this right in here,
That's the secret
To the popcorn sutton
Legacy liquor.
Every bit of that brown
And green you see in there,
That's barley-malt flavor,
And we been out of business
For about 2 1/2 weeks,
But now, by god,
We're back in business,
And we're fixing to run
The wheels off that still.
♪♪
Go for it.
♪♪
Mark: when you see the dust
Boiling out of it like it
Is when we're grinding it,
You know that there's no
More moisture left in it.
We're ready to mash back in
On legacy liquor.
That is an official full bucket
Of old-time malted barley.
We're back up to speed with all
The ingredients we have to have.
Well, we got how many buckets,
Two?
This will make nine.
Ten in the hole here.
That's enough for five runs.Yep.
With things being back to normal
With us and our ingredients,
We're going to scale up
Our operation,
Get daniel back on his feet,
Get our customers happy
And get back to normal.
♪♪
♪♪
Tickle: I'm not looking forward
To talking to henry
And kenny today.
Kind of under pressure here
To get this 2,000-gallon run,
And josh calls me
And says he needs help.
You know, I've known josh
For quite a few years
Through the moonshine community
If you will.
He knows his stuff, and if he's
Calling me for some help,
This fellow must be in one heck
Of an amount of trouble.
I tell you what, where would
I be if nobody helped me out?
Narrator: across the state line,
With a new round of mash
Working off,
Tickle must decide
How to handle a call for help.
Tickle: josh is stressed out
As can be.
He's got a big problem
With a still site.
He can't get his pot in
Or something.
There's some sort of fumes.
He needs me to help him
With an old submarine pot
That's busted up
Because he ain't made
A drop of liquor this year,
And he's got to do something
To start making some money.
How's it going, fellows?
Henry: hey, tickle.
What's up, man?
It's about time
You walked up.
Tell me what's wrong
With this.
Well, it's wider than 2 foot
Is what it is.
Yeah. Yes, it is.
Yeah.
I picked up the 2-by-6 instead
Of a 2-by-4.
Yeah, instead of two-by-four,
Yep.
Yeah,
That's all that is.
Been a bad day today.
Nothing has went right.
Rough start.
Not a damn thing has went right.
Well, now, look, I'm not trying
To add to your bad day
But I got to leave
For just a little bit.
-what do you mean leave?
-you just got here.
My buddy called me.
He needs some help, and I feel
I really need to help him.
You need to leave now?
Yeah, kind of.
We got 2,000 gallons of brandy
We got to get out,
And you tell us
That you've got to go.
He's got hisself
In a bind.
He just needs help
Getting back up on his feet.
Well, you were in a bind
Too is why we're...
You just got out of jail.
...Trying to cut you
In on this deal.
Cut you a good deal.
I mean...
I understand y'all are trying
To help me, too.
I understand,
And you are,
And I'm not trying to mess
What I've got right here up.
How long you
Going to be gone?
I'll be back in time
To run the shine.
Well, I'll tell you what,
If you're not...
Kenny: if you ain't back...
If you're not,
There'll be no pay.
-mm-mm.
-yeah.
If you don't help us complete
This whole deal, there's no pay.
That's just the way it works.
-yeah.
-you know, you mash in.
You run it.
You get it to storage,
And then the deal is done.
-then you get paid.
-then you get paid.
-you get finished. You get paid.
-yeah.
You do understand the chances
You're taking,
The dice you're rolling.
I do understand.
In the moonshine business,
You don't get paid by the hour.
Somebody don't say,
"Come out here,
And I'm going to give you
$10 an hour to work today."
You get paid usually
By the pot or by the box.
That's just the way
The business is.
You've got a few days.The mash will be ready to run?
-wouldn't you say?
-yeah, just a few.
I'm just helping him
Get up on his feet.
I'll be here.
Well, it being
A fellow moonshiner,
We like to look
After each other.
I know.And I can see your point,
And if I was in that position,
I'd like for you to help me,
But you got to keep in mind
The money.
So if you get back,
It's good.
I appreciate it.
We all good.
I'll be back in time.
-alright.
-I'll be back.
-good luck to you.
-alright. Alright.
-good luck.
-I'll see y'all fellows.
Alright, man.
I can see where
Tickle is coming from.
He's got a big heart.
He just got out of jail,
And, you know,
I like people like that.
I look up
To people like that.
All of us moonshiners
Try to come together
And just like roots
On a tree, all connected.
Tickle: god, I'd hate
To lose out on all the money
And all the hard work
I done put in here.
I believe I can do this,
Though.
♪♪
Narrator: next time on
"Moonshiners"...
How long has it been since
You've used this pot out here?
Josh: it's been years.
...In north carolina,
Josh looks to tickle
For help kick-starting
His season.
You're just really
Needing this run
To get you out
Of this pinch, right?
Mm-hmm.
Believe what I'd do is just
Cut you a hole
And patch it right here.
Y'all ready for this?
Oh, that bitch is hot!
[ laughs ]
You don't drink.
What are you wanting liquor for?
This is going to be
Something special.
This is going to be
For my funeral.
Funeral liquor?
Narrator: in tennessee,
One customer is dying to get
A unique run of liquor.
That's some pretty corn,
Ain't it?
Mark: yeah.
So mark and digger decide
On experimenting
With one-of-a-kind ingredients.
I tell you one thing,
We can't mess up
Because it ain't cheap,
$1 apiece.
The hell you say?
-now we make the money, brother.
-yep.
Narrator: and after getting
Raided by the cops,
One shiner heads right back
Into the line of fire.
[ dog howls in distance ]
Man: what's going on, ewok?
Ewok: two little
Ankle-biting dogs.
We ain't here by ourself.
Of "Moonshiners"...
-taking a long time.
-I agree.
I just don't see us getting
Any at this rate.
And I'm glad
You brought that up
Because I got
An idea last night.
I want to put
A heater box in.
The hell is a heater box?
A backwoods hack cranks up
The volume in franklin county.
Tickle:
This heater box is almost
A lost piece of technology.
This is going to double
Our production.
I believe we need to get eight
Or 10 bags of barley seed.
What are you talking about,
Just malting our own?
Malt our own.
Narrator: a key ingredient
Isn't passing
The smell test in tennessee.
Ew! *bleep*. Damn.
That smells like
An anchovy's ass.
Try not to put your arms
All over the pole
Because that creosote
Will burn the piss out of you.
What do you mean?
Give you, like, a rash,
Burned my arms all up.
Narrator: and in north carolina,
Josh brings new meaning
To the words
Toxic work environment.
Creosote is a mixture
Of several chemicals that --
Creosote is also toxic.
Creosote is also toxic.
Damn.
Man: this is how we make
The moonshine!
Captions paid for by
Discovery communications
Henry: tickle, fire this up.
♪♪
It won't be long now.
Looks good,
Nice and pretty.
There we go.
All right, guys.
Narrator: in the hills
Of central virginia,
Tickle, henry and kenny
Are firing up
Their fourth batch
Of peach brandy this week.
Even with multiple runs a week,
The three partners are only
A quarter of the way
Towards their season goal.
We've been making runs
Of peach brandy
For a while now,
And I'll tell you what.
It is a time-consuming process.
Alright.
Sure we could put a little bit
More fire under this thing
And heat our mash up faster
And try to run faster,
But then we wind up
With an inferior product.
It's ready to cap.
And you might as well not run
If you have good brandy
Coming out of the worm.
Afraid it's just a darn
Waiting game now.
Yep.
You want to run it slow.
You've got to run it slow
To get a good product.
Only thing you can do:
Sit there and watch it.
Kenny: taking a long time.
I agree because look.
I ain't out here to run
1,999 gallons with you.
I'm out here to run 2,000.
We wouldn't
Do you like that.
I know, but I want to get
Where we supposed to be.
Henry, kenny and I have been
Making good moonshine,
But I can't lie to you.
At the rate we're going,
I don't see us hitting
That 2,000-gallon mark.
If we don't reach
That 2,000 gallons,
I don't get my $100,000.
Henry: looks like a little
Stream coming there.
-it's about time.
-yeah.
We got to figure out a way
To speed this process up
If we're ever going to reach
That 2,000-gallon mark.
You know, henry, I just don't
See us getting it at this rate.
And I'm glad
You brought that up
Because I got an idea
Last night.
What do you want to do?
You want to put another pond in?
I want to put
A heater box in.
The hell is a heater box?
Long time ago,
I worked with this guy.
It was running rye liquor.
I noticed his box sitting above
His still sitting like this
Right here, and when we finished
That still full,
He hit a valve,
And this mash was in here,
Ran over in the still,
And we had liquor in 5 minutes.
A heater box, now I understand
The concept.
You're heating up mash
For the next run
While we're making a run.
I'm just not 100 percent sure
How this thing works.
Narrator: after 6 hours
Of running,
Tickle, henry and kenny
Have only 36 gallons,
But a heater box will
Double their current output,
Putting their season goal
Back within reach.
Show me what
You're talking about.
There's very few things that you
Can do to speed up the process
Once you cap a still,
So I got this heater-box idea.
That would help us.
If we do that, we may be able
To reach our goal.
If not, we in trouble.
♪♪
♪♪
Let's get this barrelled up and
Get on to bigger better things.
Narrator: in cocke county,
Tennessee, mark and digger
Are aging a run
Of popcorn sutton legacy
Shine that wasn't up
To snuff.
Well, ain't that little
Thing snazzy?
I hear that a lot.
Mark: our last run,
It didn't turn out
As well as we had hoped.
There we go.
It's fine liquor, but it's not
Popcorn sutton legacy liquor,
And we can't sell it as such.
Narrator: with the shortage
Of malted barley,
Mark and digger
Tried substituting rolled barley
In their recipe.
Damn it.
That isn't it, puss.
There ain't nothing wrong
With it, but it ain't it.
But the flavor profile of the
Finished product wasn't a match,
And without the ingredients
To make more of their
Best-selling liquor,
The boys had no choice
But to break the bad news
To their new bootlegger, daniel.
We don't got no more
Popcorn sutton legacy liquor.
Damn, fellas.
That puts me in a bind bad.
I've got multiple customers
Wanting the hell out of that.
That's real good liquor,
Puss.
Digger: it'll be even better
Liquor after it sits in there
3 or 4 years.
Well, right now,
It's $100-a-gallon liquor.
Three or 4 years,
It'll be $200-gallon liquor.
We'll lose a little bit of it
To the angels' share but...
Yeah, and that fellow
That's holding the hose
Leaking it over
The side's share.
That count as the angels'
Share, too?
I am an angel.
That's what your mama
Always called you,
My little angel.
Little angel.
I like barreling this liquor up
For somewhere down the road,
But this ain't sellable
For legacy liquor,
And, you know, we got
To get back on track.
I mean,
We're behind bad, bad.
There is a malted-barley
Shortage right now going on,
And it's affecting
Our business terribly.
We can't make our damn flagship
Liquor this season without it.
We're letting
Our customers down.
We're letting daniel down.
Well,
What I'm thinking is,
I believe we need to get eight
Or 10 bags of barley seed.
What are you talking about,
Just malting our own?
Malt our own.
We'll let the sprouts
Get up pretty good-sized.
We'll kill it, dry it out,
Grind it,
And we'll have
Our own malted barley.
Narrator: when barley
Is harvested,
A tough outer hull
Locks away sugars
And carbohydrates essential
For fermentation.
The process of malting involves
Soaking and warming the grains
To activate sprout growth
Which is stopped by heating
And drying the sprouted
Grain before grinding it.
The malting process also unlocks
Enzymes in the grain
Allowing brewers and distillers
To ferment the sugars inside.
Do you know how to build
A damn grain house?
Nope, but I reckon
We're fixing to learn.
Malting your own barley,
It's not hard for the most part,
But it takes some time.
It starts up a little air here,
And there it goes.
That's about all
We're going to get.
We'd much rather buy it
Already malted,
But we ain't got no choice.
If we don't sprout and make
Our own malted barley,
We're not going to be selling
The popcorn sutton
Legacy liquor.
Let's move on to bigger
And better stuff.
Hell, let's go find us
Some barley seed.
What do you say?
-say, that sounds like a plan.
If not, what do you say
We go apply for jobs somewhere?
♪♪
♪♪
Ooh, boy! Easy!
Man, that was close.
That was bad.
Narrator: across the state line
On the piedmont plateau,
Josh is finishing
The roof of his underground
Still site with the help of cuz
And moonshine apprentice colt.
Right now, we're putting
Two-by-fours
On the face of this.
That's going to enable us
To plant some grass.
Once the roots take ahold,
It's going to
Stay on here forever.
You won't even be able
To tell this is here.
It's going to be cool, ain't it?
Yes, sir.
It's going to be awesome.
This still site is not like
Any other still site.
It's not like we went down here
To the hardware store,
And I bought
A set of plans.
Put that right there.
That's all you got to do,
And then we plant grass on it.
This come out of my brain,
So I wanted to make this damn
Highest quality
That I possibly can.
Man,
This is going to be great.
When we get all the stuff
Growing in here,
You won't be able
To tell it's here.
We'll be able
To brush it in.
I'm excited to be able to make
Some moonshine down here.
Let's grab a still.
Now that we got the roof on,
It's time to get the still in,
Put it all together
And make it fit.
I got a 275-gallon
Copper pot out here.
I'm building a furnace
With this still,
And it's going to have
A chimney coming up in it.
Because we're working in a hole,
It's very important to catch
All that hot air
And pull it out of my room.
Narrator: in josh's
Underground bunker,
A 250-gallon still will be set
Inside a large steel furnace.
Smoke and fumes generated
By the furnace
Will flow
Through a vent pipe
Into a large aluminum
Manifold on the ceiling.
The aluminum manifold, or hood,
Will safely carry the fumes
And smoke to the surface
Where they will exit
Through a camouflaged chimney
Leaving the air in the bunker
Clean and smoke-free.
Yeah,
We got a hide that chute.
That cap is going to be at least
14 inches taller,
So that's going to have
A chimney coming up in it.
Well, there ain't no way
That's going to work,
So what are we
Going to do here?
We're going to have to
Either dig down
Or freaking build
A different still.
I guess we'll just dig down
Because it'll be a lot easier
To dig down
Than make another still.
That's true.
I'm not like everybody else.
I do things different.
When I build things,
I usually build things
Without a plan because...
I don't know.
I'm a visual learner.
I do things on sight.
Cuz, why aren't you
Digging a rock pile?
Well, this whole thing
Is a rock pile.
That's the problem.
I could go to a smaller pot,
But I'm ready to hit
The ground running,
And I got a still,
And I'm ready to use it.
Let's go make it work.
We're digging our way
To china as you can see.
It'd be all right with me
If I never, ever, ever,
Ever dug anything ever again
As long as I live.
I'm tired of digging my way
In and out of holes.
Where'd my help go?
[ laughs ]
Narrator: coming up...
All this has done is got us
At least 2 weeks behind.
...In tennessee, digger gets
Caught up in his work.
Damn.
Well...
Hey, you been itching
For a damn vasectomy.
Hold my left nut for me,
Will you?
Try not to put your arms
All over the pole
Because that creosote
Will burn the piss out of you.
-what do you mean?
-burned my arms all up.
If it's bad to touch,
Wouldn't it be bad to breathe?
♪♪
All this has done is got us damn
At least 2 weeks behind.
Yep.
Narrator:
In cocke county, tennessee,
Mark and digger
Are constructing
A greenhouse
Behind their workshop
To sprout their very own supply
Of malted barley,
A must-have ingredient in their
Popcorn sutton legacy liquor.
Daniel is calling
Every damn evening
Wanting to know when he can get
Another run of this liquor.
I'll tell you one thing.
He's a selling machine,
Ain't he?
You ain't a *bleep*.
Mark: you know, luckily,
Me and old digger,
We got ahold
Of some barley seed.
Ronald, our farmer friend,
He let us have 200 pound.
Digger: we've just got to get
These seeds sprouting,
Get them malting,
If you will.
We'll wrap this whole thing
In plastic.
In about a week, we should have
Little fuzzy grain
Sprouting out about that long.
The framework of this greenhouse
Is made out
Of electric conduit tubing.
It'll hold the weight.
See, every one of these trays
Is going to hold 10,
15 pound of grain.
We'll put pans in there
With grain in every bin,
Soak it in water,
Let it sprout.
When they get up
About that high,
We'll lay them out on the ground
In the hot sunlight,
Dry them and grind it up just
Like they do in the factory.
We didn't study and tinker
And work with that recipe
To cut corners on it now.
No, you can't.
Mark: we worked really hard
To figure out the exact grains
That we needed
In the popcorn legacy liquor.
This malted-barley shortage,
You've got so many
Craft brewers.
They use it, and that's where
It's eating it up,
But we have to have it.
It's not an option.
Probably going to take this
A week to malt.
Then, time we make it, another
Week to work our mash off.
Yep.
If that don't work,
Then we're 3 weeks behind.
We're a week behind already,
But we're going
To come out swinging.
This has to work for us.
If not, why, then we're in
For a horrible, horrible season.
Damn.
Damn.
[ laughs ]
Well, you been itching
For a damn vasectomy.
I didn't want
To get circumscribed
At the same time, though.
Well, I'm actually going
To be honest with you now.
If it's all
The same with you,
I'm ain't going
To help you none.
Hold my left nut for me,
Will you?
*bleep*.
I got her, boy.
One, two, three.
Yeah, they're
All three there.
[ laughs ]
*bleep* damn.
It's crucial that we sprout
These enough
That we can get some malt flavor
And the musty overtones we need.
All we're after is what's
In the center of this hull,
And then we want it sprouted,
And then once we get that,
Then we know
We've got enough flavor
And convertible carbohydrates.
Sure has soaked up a lot
Of water already, ain't it?
Mark: we've got 200 pound
Of seed.
By the time it's sprouted
And dried and ground,
This could set us up a couple
3 weeks worth of liquor mash,
You know, if things go good,
The temperature stays warm.
Look at that.
Now ain't that pretty?
Digger: it may work, and it may
Be a complete failure.
Look all right?
Yeah.
We don't know until things
Get to rolling our direction.
I'll have to water it
Again tomorrow.
That'll be all right,
I guess.
♪♪
Hey. Come on in here, guys,
And I'll show you
What I'm talking about
With this heater box.
Got a metal detector, huh?
Narrator:
North of the state line
In franklin county, virginia...
Was trying to explain it
To you down there,
But the visual
Is much better.
...To speed up progress
On their runs of peach brandy,
Tickle, henry and kenny
Are designing a heater box.
This box here
Is the heater box.
Now inside this heater box
Is our mash.
The whole trick of it is,
I got a small coil worm in here.
It heats that mash right
To the boiling point.
Narrator: a heater box is a tool
Used by moonshiners
To warm the second batch of mash
While the first is running,
Saving time when running
Back-to-back batches.
Steam from the still is rerouted
Through a copper coil
That sits in the heater box
Bringing the mash contained
Inside close to distillation
Temperature.
When the first run is complete,
The spent mash is drained,
And the contents
Of the heater box
Are immediately
Dumped into the still.
Within minutes,
As opposed to hours,
Liquor will be pouring
From the condenser again.
Tickle: any little thing
Is going to help us out.
Things are just taking
Too long for us
To get this
2,000 gallons out.
I've never run anything
Like this,
But I can definitely see
The advantages of it.
Let's get one of these things
Put together.
Henry had a bigger box than what
We needed sitting around here,
So we cut it down
To fit the size that we need.
Hey, tickle.
You need some earplugs?
No.
I can't hear noways.
Alright.
I say we can roll her box now.
What'd you say?
[ laughs ]
It's going to be a plywood box,
And we will route our steam
Through this box,
Through the coil that we're
Going to build and put in there,
And it heats our mash up
For the next run
Until it's right to the point
Of being ready
To make moonshine with.
Henry: should've cut some more
Off of this yonder.
Yeah. I can do that.
♪♪
There we go.
It's going to cost us
1/2 day here doing this,
But we'll be able to get
The darn brandy run.
Tickle: we're going
To build this box.
Then we've got to build
A base underneath it,
And this base has got
To be very strong.
With 200 gallons
Of mash in there,
This box is subject
To weigh about 1,600 pounds.
Henry:
It doesn't have to be perfect.
It's not like building a house.
I'm not looking at perfection,
Henry.
I'm looking at it not
Falling down.
But a real cobbler can't help
Himself, and that's you.
Yeah.
This is true.
A lot of people might look
At that and say,
"Boy, that's way overbuilt,"
But I'm planning on putting
1,600 pounds of hot stuff
Up on top of there
Up in the air,
And we can't take a chance
On this thing
Falling down with hot mash in it
And kill somebody.
Kill somebody.
Yep.
Alright.
That'll be our last leg.
-ready? One, two three.
-two, three. Go.
Alright.
This won't be too high
To get the mash in.
Yeah,
It ain't bad at all.
We decided to go
With a square one.
When we calculate these coils
That go in that heater box,
It's very tricky.
It's got a lot to do
With how cold is your beer
And the number of gallons
That's going to be
In that heater box.
That's how I know just
About the amount
Of copper
To put in there.
Kenny: that right there ought
To work good.
Tickle: I think it will.
This heater box is --
It's almost a lost piece
Of technology
Because they used to use
These way back in the day,
And what this is going to do
Is just about
Double our production.
That's got a pretty good pitch
On it, ain't it?
Yeah, it's going on downhill
Though pretty good.
Alright.
There you go.
Ooh.
We're one step closer
To a heater box.
Could you get me up
Just a touch?
That'll work.
-that should do it.
-yeah.
Tell you what, looks good.
Get it loaded up
And get it to still site.
♪♪
♪♪
Whoa.
That's a pretty far fall
If you slip up, ain't it?
Narrator: in the backwoods
Of polk county,
Josh, cuz and colt
Are constructing a ventilation
System to keep smoke,
Soot and heat
From entering the bunker.
So this is, like,
For ventilation, right?
-yep.
-yeah.
I got to build a vent system
To attach to my chimney.
So this is probably
The first time
You ever had
To make a hood like this.
I've never made a hood
In my life.
It's going to suck all my gases,
All my heat,
All my stuff out of my site
So it's not a toxic still site.
If I don't have good airflow
In this bunker,
Then we're probably going to die
From carbon-monoxide poisoning.
Let's caulk
The hell out of it.
I never thought making a site
Would be this complicated.
Lay it thick
And leave a bead.
There's a art
And a science to this.
I feel like I'm learning it,
You know, as I go.
What we're going to do
Right now:
We're going to flip it over
Just, like, metal side down.
Yeah.
We're going to hold it up
And going to run a screw
In the plywood.
All right.
Our still site
Is almost complete,
And it's been
A lot of work.
Right there, right there, cuz.
It's just this headache
After that headache.
It's just one thing
After another,
But now that
I'm getting our vent in,
We can put our pot in, make
Some mash, make some moonshine.
Try not to damn put your arms
All over the pole
Because that creosote will
Burn the piss out of you.
-what do you mean?
-give you, like, a rash.
Burned my arms all up,
My eyes.
Narrator: to build the roof
Of his bunker,
Josh used more than a dozen
Telephone poles
That came coated with
A preservative called creosote.
-it ain't real bad, is it?
-what do you mean?
Colt: well, I mean, hell, josh,
If it's bad to touch,
Wouldn't it be bad to breathe?
I've noticed, like,
A sore throat
Once he said something
About touching it,
Kind of just
All clicked in my head.
We probably shouldn't be
Breathing it.
Well, I mean,
You ain't breathing it.
How you figure?
You don't smell it in the air?
I mean, if you was burning it
Or something.
We ain't burning it.
I've been around telephone polls
And crossties all my life.
I knew we was going to smell it
A little bit, not a big deal.
-but you smell it in the air.
-so what?
You ever been around
Railroad trusses?
What do they smell like?
It's just a smell.
I'm really, like, just trying
To explain to him
That it's more
About extreme cases
Where you're going
To get sick.
-josh.
-what?
Come here.
So that creosote stuff
You talking about not touching,
It says you can't
Breathe it either
In a enclosed place
Like this.
We're not burning it.Yeah, but it's enclosed.
Look.
Look right here.
Just look.
I got it right here.
It says, "Creosote is a mixture
Of several chemicals."
"Creosote is also toxic."
"Creosote is also toxic."
Colt: it says you
Can't breathe it either in
A enclosed place like this.
We're not burning it.Yeah, but it's enclosed
Look.
It says...
"Creosote is also toxic."
"Creosote is also toxic."
Narrator: in polk county,
North carolina,
Installing their
Ventilation system,
Josh makes
An unsettling discovery.
The telephone polls he used
To build this site
Were treated with creosote,
A chemical hazardous to humans.
Once he said something
About touching it,
It kind of just
All clicked in my head.
We probably shouldn't
Be breathing it.
"Creosote is a mixture
Of several chemicals
That can be very dangerous."
-that's what I'm saying.
-alright.
Well, gasoline is very toxic
And dangerous too, right?
And we handle it
All the time.
Well, I'm not going to go up
There and sniff it.
Well, I used to.
It's like driving a nail
In a steel poll
Trying to get him to think about
What's really important here.
Narrator: in the 1800s,
Creosote was first derived
From the wood of beech trees.
With a smoky flavor, creosote
Was used as a food preservative
And by prohibition-era
Moonshiners
To mimic scotch's smoky flavor,
But made from coal tar,
Creosote is an industrial-grade
Wood preservative
Used to prevent rot
On railroad ties,
Harbor pilings
And telephone poles.
"One of the more common
Of wood preservatives
Is creosote which
Contains chemicals like..."
What is that?I mean...
Some *bleep* I can't even
Pronounce.
The point is...
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah....You can't breathe it.
Whatever.That's the point.
"Polychriticaeromatichydro-
Carbons
That can volatize
Into the air."
Into your lungs,
Into your throat.
I believe that's what
You're talking about.
That is what
I'm talking about.
I mean, think about it this way.
You're going to put
Your mash barrels in here with
*bleep* that you can
Breathe toxic,
And you're going to put
Your mash barrels in here?
It's a toxin.
You're breathing it right now.
Just think about it.
Josh: from what I've gathered
From reading, this is true.
If you can smell it,
You are breathing toxins,
So if you are
Breathing toxins,
It doesn't make a whole lot
Of sense for me
To build a still site
That's toxic, does it?
So what we going
To do now?
I don't know.
I don't know what to do
Right now
With everybody is complaining
About creosote in there,
And my guys don't want
To work in it.
I don't want to work
In it either,
And if it's really a toxin
In the air,
I don't want my mash in it,
So now I don't know exactly how
To fix it, but we're going to.
♪♪
♪♪
You can see it's been
Precipitating down in there,
Raining like
It's supposed to.
Narrator: across the state line
In tennessee,
After waiting 3 days,
Mark and digger
Return to the greenhouse
To check on the progress
Of their sprouted barley.
Ooh! Damn!
Damn!
Oh, my *bleep*.
That smells like
An anchovy's ass.
They're full of water.
Look at that.
Lord, have mercy.
Oh, hell.
[ gags ]
Don't puke on me now,
Margaret.
Man, it smells like a maggot
On a gut wagon in there.
There's something horribly,
Horribly wrong.
Look at all that water
Precipitated
And rained down
Back in to these,
And it didn't
Evaporate none.
What has happened:
The water evaporated up
And then rained back down
In these top bins.
They didn't have any way
Of draining,
So they drowned new seeds,
And the heat started them
Rottening.
It's all ruined.
Shoo, damn.
All that money gone.
Mark:
We have to have the barley malt
To provide the necessary flavor.
I mean, we cannot make this
Legacy liquor without it.
Son of a bitch.
Wait a minute.
Look right yonder.
We're all right.
Look at these.Them is perfect.
Now that there is the way
They're supposed to look,
Baby man.
Yep. See, they're
Just a solid mat.
They bound the roots together
Like they're supposed to.
Ideally, to get the flavor
We need, bare minimum inch
And half, 2 inches
Worth of sprout of them.
The roots also work well.
They've got carbohydrate,
But the green is where
The majority of it's at.
The ones on topsoil,
It didn't take.
All the totes in the lower
Levels are doing well.
Mark: you know,
They're sprouting,
Starting to get
A little fuzz on them
And stick up
And peep through.
I say we just dump them.
What do you say?
Dump them just right
Bottom side up?
Yep.
Let's see how this does.
Oh, yeah.
Shoot, boy.
It's malty, ain't it?Yes, it is.
That's what
We're looking for.
Ready? Go.
Oh, yeah.
These seeds where
They have sprouted,
They're thicker than hair
On a hog's back.
They're big.
They're strong.
Oh, and it's sticky,
Loaded with carbs, good sugars.
We couldn't have asked for
Anything better at this point.
We've still got
A lot to learn
About this barley-malting
Business,
But this is
Going to work.
Yep.
Digger: it's amazing just what
A little bit of malted barley
Will do to the flavor
Of an alcohol.
You can't mimic it.
More complex, that only comes
From the sprouts
And the roots of any seed
That you malt.
We let mother nature
Take care of this.
Me and you ain't going to help
It dry no better at this point.
We feel we're in
A good spot now.
Our sprouted malt barley
Is ready to dry.
We get it ground up,
Get it in buckets,
Get it transported
To the still site.
We're ready to mash back in on
Legacy liquor.
-coming up...
-aww, *bleep*.
Josh: something we hadn't
Accounted for:
Still is too tall.
Narrator: ...In north carolina,
As setbacks pile up,
Josh inches closer
To his breaking point.
After everything that's happened
To me this season,
After all the broken bones
And for not making
Any moonshine,
After not making
Any money...
Should explain
What's going on here.
I don't know
What the *bleep* I'm doing.
I can't *bleep* get *bleep*
To go right no more.
♪♪
Tickle" all right.
Come on back, henry.
Come on back.
Straight on.
Straight on.
Yep. Alright.
Just want to ease it
On down in.
Narrator: in the woods
Of central virginia,
Desperate to speed up progress
Towards their 2,000-gallon goal,
Tickle, henry and kenny
Are ready to set up
And test their new heater box.
This heel needs to come off
A little bit over there.
I'll tell you what,
I'm liking it.
That right there is
Good and sturdy.
Yeah.
We put a whole lot of work
Into this heater box,
So today we're going to
Hook it up onto the still.
We're going to make us a run,
And we're going to see
How this thing works.
Henry: yep.
That's going to be perfect.
Let's get some mash
In the still, fire it up...
Going to ahead
And get her heating up.
...Watch this heat,
And then we can work that
And save us about an hour.
-okay.
Henry: when you're running any
Kind of moonshine operation,
It's a little nerve-racking,
I guess you'd say,
But brandy is even tougher.
It's a lot harder to run,
And you're so busy.
The law is always on you.
Ready to fire it up?
Can't get out
Of an old 35 tour.
The quicker you get that fire
Under that still,
The quicker you get
Out that day so...
And once I get my mash
In the still,
I always put the fire
To it right away.
Alright.
Plenty of time to get all this
Little stuff done
While it's heating up
Before we cap it.
Lot of people has lost
A lot of liquor
By being in there
30 minutes too long.
So we added this heater box in,
So we've got
To reroute everything
Because it's going to come
From the pot,
Go over here
Into our thumper.
Then it's going to come out of
Our thumper into the heater box.
We have a coil in there,
So we're heating up
The next run of mash
While we're making this
Run of liquor.
That way, when we go to fill
That pot back again,
It'll be ready to run,
And in just a few minutes,
We've got moonshine coming out.
This thing works like
It's supposed to,
It's really going to increase
Our production a lot.
This heater box,
If it works right,
It's going to be great,
But there's all kinds of stuff
That could go wrong
With this thing.
If we don't have
Enough coils in here,
It won't bring our mash
Up to temperature,
And it's basically useless.
If we have too much coil
In here,
It can go on ahead
And start cooking our mash,
And all of our brandy
Will be going
Right up in the air
With a sting,
So there's a bunch of things
That could go wrong here.
Hell, far as we know, the side
Could bust off of this thing
And could kill somebody.
Kenny: there you go.
Yeah.
She's about ready.
Yeah.
Go ahead and cap it off.
Alright.
You can learn a whole lot
If you really watch close
And you pay attention
Who you hang around with.
Henry and kenny, they been
Doing this for a long time.
You can almost work with these
Guys and never speak a word,
And that speaks volumes
About their experience.
We've went to the heater box.
Now we've tracked it all the way
Down this long pipe here,
And I've tracked it
To right here.
It's so hot.
You can't even touch it.
So now it's going to come back
Down this branch worm,
And by then, it's going to be
Turned into the moonshine.
Should be any minute now.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
We're rock and rolling now.
While you've got this steam
Coming out of that cap hole,
From that point on,
We control that steam.
We take it
Where we want it to go,
But moonshining,
You don't know.
Everything looks good today.
Five minutes from now,
We've lost it all,
So you can never count your
Money until you've got it run.
You've got everything out,
And you got your brandy
In storage,
And you got your still
Place out and put up.
Tickle: make some shine floating
On down the creek, won't it?
Floating on down the creek.
-it's going to be perfect.
Y'all ready? Let's do it.
-alright.
Tickle: alright.
Might ought to use this
To hold that.
Let me drive
The plug back in.
Alright.
Open him up.
Off she goes.
-how hot is it?
*bleep*.
God almighty.
That's what a heater box
Is all about.
Tell you what, that thing
Will be ready to run in no time.
This heater box
Is working so good
That I just can't
For the life of me figure out
Why we didn't put
This thing on here before.
That looks good.
Well, look.
Yep, they look to be running.
It's running.
Make a world of difference.
Be damned she ain't
Pumping her out there.
She's rolling it on out good,
Good and cold, too.
Yes, sir.
I'm going to get
Some more mash in.
You know, this allows us
To run our shine faster,
But it takes quite a lot of mash
To run a batch of moonshine,
And now we need
That much more.
Tickle, henry and kenny jar
Up 71 gallons of peach brandy
On back-to-back runs
With the heater box installed,
But to maintain
Their increased output,
They'll need twice as much mash.
Kenny: that thing working
Smooth as a top.
♪♪
♪♪
He tell you anything?He ain't told me nothing.
I ain't going down there
Until we figure out a solution.
Narrator: across the state line
In north carolina...
There he is.
Yeah.
...With toxic chemicals
Leaking from the wood
Used to build his roof...
Going on?
...Josh is stuck on the outside
Looking in at his own
Still site.
What's going on
This morning?
-going on, brother?
-what's up, cuz?
Waiting on you to get here.
Colt:
What's your plan today?
You want us
To keep breathing it?
I don't know.
I don't know what to do.
Done gone too far
To stop.
I don't know exactly how
To cure the problem,
So I don't want to make
You guys breathe that.
Don't want to no more
Than I have to.
Yeah, I don't want
To breathe it.
These telephone poles being
Coated in creosote is a problem,
And I can't have my guys
In there getting sick,
And I'm damn sure
Not going to be
Making my liquor
In there neither.
Let's just work on the furnace
Out here today
Until I figure out
What we're going to do.
Let's do it.
This may be a major setback,
But we can't let this stop us.
Since we can't work
Down below,
It only makes sense to fix
What we can above.
Anybody remember how tall
The still was?
Five-eight,
Something like that.
And the way the furnace
Is going to work
Is the still sits
Inside of a tank...
That's 73 inches
Right there.
I'm going to go measure
The still.
Alright.
We're going to cut a hole
Out of that,
And that's where the burner
Or the fire is going in.
Damn.
Aw, *bleep*.
Something we hadn't
Accounted for
Is the 16 inches
That is the part of the cape.
Unless we dig down some more,
The still is too tall.
Damn.
So even after we've already dug
This thing down,
We still ain't got
It dug down enough.
Damn.
We did all that digging
For nothing.
Why don't you explain
What's going on here
Because I don't really
Understand.
What is there not
To explain?
You just miscounted?
Is that what happened?
No matter how you slice it,
Unless we dig down,
The still is too tall still.
I don't know what the *bleep*
I'm doing.
I can't *bleep* get *bleep*
To go right no more.
I'm tired.
We can't really work in there.
I cannot believe
Those poles are toxic.
After everything that's happened
To me this season,
After all the broken bones
And not making any moonshine,
After not making any money,
I'm financially
Broke all to hell...
All right, y'all.
I can't stand it.
I'm serious.
...All the bull *bleep* that
Keeps happening,
Right now I just need somebody
To come and help me out.
[ phone rings ]
Hello?
Mr. Tickle.
Hey.
How's it going there, josh?
♪♪
Hmm.
Well, that was stupid.
I'm seeing way too many pockets
This morning.
You know, mark and I
Were out late last night,
And we were drinking
Pretty heavy.
I'm just looking through
Beer goggles today,
And they don't always focus the
Exact same as your regular eyes.
Every time one of them
Balls hit together,
Does your damn feel like wax
Is flying out your ears?
You're busting
Your head so bad?
No, but every time I bend over,
Hot water rolls up my mouth.
[ laughs ]
But they say I had a blast.
We appeared to.
Narrator: mark and digger
Have racked up
586 gallons on the season.
Tickle and the laws
Have now sunk
527 gallons
In the corner pocket
While josh is still stuck
Behind the eight ball.
Digger: what say me and you grab
Some barley malt, medium coarse?
Narrator: with their homegrown
Batch of malted barley dried,
Mark and digger are ready
To grind it up,
Mash it in and get back
To making moonshine.
Mark: they dried out.
That hot sun hit them.
It ain't bone-dry,
But it's dry enough to grind.
Well, we ain't got
No more time to fool with.
Nuh-uh.
Once you lose money and time,
You don't get either
One of them back,
And we've lost
A tremendous amount of both,
But we feel
We're in a good spot now.
Our malt barley, it's ready
To grind up,
And we get it ground up,
Get it in buckets.
It's where it needs
To be right now.
Big-head ted here, it's served
Us pretty good, ain't it?
Yeah.
This old grinder, digger,
He made this thing
Several years ago.
We've used it and used it.
Every year, we threaten
To get us another one,
A better one,
But it's working fine,
And I'm just thankful to have
Something to put in it to grind.
All this right in here,
That's the secret
To the popcorn sutton
Legacy liquor.
Every bit of that brown
And green you see in there,
That's barley-malt flavor,
And we been out of business
For about 2 1/2 weeks,
But now, by god,
We're back in business,
And we're fixing to run
The wheels off that still.
♪♪
Go for it.
♪♪
Mark: when you see the dust
Boiling out of it like it
Is when we're grinding it,
You know that there's no
More moisture left in it.
We're ready to mash back in
On legacy liquor.
That is an official full bucket
Of old-time malted barley.
We're back up to speed with all
The ingredients we have to have.
Well, we got how many buckets,
Two?
This will make nine.
Ten in the hole here.
That's enough for five runs.Yep.
With things being back to normal
With us and our ingredients,
We're going to scale up
Our operation,
Get daniel back on his feet,
Get our customers happy
And get back to normal.
♪♪
♪♪
Tickle: I'm not looking forward
To talking to henry
And kenny today.
Kind of under pressure here
To get this 2,000-gallon run,
And josh calls me
And says he needs help.
You know, I've known josh
For quite a few years
Through the moonshine community
If you will.
He knows his stuff, and if he's
Calling me for some help,
This fellow must be in one heck
Of an amount of trouble.
I tell you what, where would
I be if nobody helped me out?
Narrator: across the state line,
With a new round of mash
Working off,
Tickle must decide
How to handle a call for help.
Tickle: josh is stressed out
As can be.
He's got a big problem
With a still site.
He can't get his pot in
Or something.
There's some sort of fumes.
He needs me to help him
With an old submarine pot
That's busted up
Because he ain't made
A drop of liquor this year,
And he's got to do something
To start making some money.
How's it going, fellows?
Henry: hey, tickle.
What's up, man?
It's about time
You walked up.
Tell me what's wrong
With this.
Well, it's wider than 2 foot
Is what it is.
Yeah. Yes, it is.
Yeah.
I picked up the 2-by-6 instead
Of a 2-by-4.
Yeah, instead of two-by-four,
Yep.
Yeah,
That's all that is.
Been a bad day today.
Nothing has went right.
Rough start.
Not a damn thing has went right.
Well, now, look, I'm not trying
To add to your bad day
But I got to leave
For just a little bit.
-what do you mean leave?
-you just got here.
My buddy called me.
He needs some help, and I feel
I really need to help him.
You need to leave now?
Yeah, kind of.
We got 2,000 gallons of brandy
We got to get out,
And you tell us
That you've got to go.
He's got hisself
In a bind.
He just needs help
Getting back up on his feet.
Well, you were in a bind
Too is why we're...
You just got out of jail.
...Trying to cut you
In on this deal.
Cut you a good deal.
I mean...
I understand y'all are trying
To help me, too.
I understand,
And you are,
And I'm not trying to mess
What I've got right here up.
How long you
Going to be gone?
I'll be back in time
To run the shine.
Well, I'll tell you what,
If you're not...
Kenny: if you ain't back...
If you're not,
There'll be no pay.
-mm-mm.
-yeah.
If you don't help us complete
This whole deal, there's no pay.
That's just the way it works.
-yeah.
-you know, you mash in.
You run it.
You get it to storage,
And then the deal is done.
-then you get paid.
-then you get paid.
-you get finished. You get paid.
-yeah.
You do understand the chances
You're taking,
The dice you're rolling.
I do understand.
In the moonshine business,
You don't get paid by the hour.
Somebody don't say,
"Come out here,
And I'm going to give you
$10 an hour to work today."
You get paid usually
By the pot or by the box.
That's just the way
The business is.
You've got a few days.The mash will be ready to run?
-wouldn't you say?
-yeah, just a few.
I'm just helping him
Get up on his feet.
I'll be here.
Well, it being
A fellow moonshiner,
We like to look
After each other.
I know.And I can see your point,
And if I was in that position,
I'd like for you to help me,
But you got to keep in mind
The money.
So if you get back,
It's good.
I appreciate it.
We all good.
I'll be back in time.
-alright.
-I'll be back.
-good luck to you.
-alright. Alright.
-good luck.
-I'll see y'all fellows.
Alright, man.
I can see where
Tickle is coming from.
He's got a big heart.
He just got out of jail,
And, you know,
I like people like that.
I look up
To people like that.
All of us moonshiners
Try to come together
And just like roots
On a tree, all connected.
Tickle: god, I'd hate
To lose out on all the money
And all the hard work
I done put in here.
I believe I can do this,
Though.
♪♪
Narrator: next time on
"Moonshiners"...
How long has it been since
You've used this pot out here?
Josh: it's been years.
...In north carolina,
Josh looks to tickle
For help kick-starting
His season.
You're just really
Needing this run
To get you out
Of this pinch, right?
Mm-hmm.
Believe what I'd do is just
Cut you a hole
And patch it right here.
Y'all ready for this?
Oh, that bitch is hot!
[ laughs ]
You don't drink.
What are you wanting liquor for?
This is going to be
Something special.
This is going to be
For my funeral.
Funeral liquor?
Narrator: in tennessee,
One customer is dying to get
A unique run of liquor.
That's some pretty corn,
Ain't it?
Mark: yeah.
So mark and digger decide
On experimenting
With one-of-a-kind ingredients.
I tell you one thing,
We can't mess up
Because it ain't cheap,
$1 apiece.
The hell you say?
-now we make the money, brother.
-yep.
Narrator: and after getting
Raided by the cops,
One shiner heads right back
Into the line of fire.
[ dog howls in distance ]
Man: what's going on, ewok?
Ewok: two little
Ankle-biting dogs.
We ain't here by ourself.