Moonshiners on TV

Damo

Hi all,

I guess a lot of us have seen the tv series Moonshiners? I'd like to actually taste the stuff and find out what it is like (I live in the wrong part of the world unfortunately). From what you see on the telly, they never make any cuts and start bottling straight from the still as soon as the run starts. Surely that can't be right?! If that was the case, as a buyer you'd get one jug all hearts, mmm quite nice I'll have another and then if you werent lucky the next one might be all bloody heads! I'd say there would be a lot of set up shots and the clear liquid shown on screen might just be water, who knows? Does anyone have any experience with this stuff. Do they actually produce a good drop?

Damo.

Moonshine

I'd like to try that as well, to know what real Moonshine is like. Tim & Tickle have shown their "blending" vessel when in the woods where they dilute it down to about 80% proof, but as seen they don't go into details. It's a great show, I am watching the second season right now, but you have to keep in mind it's a show for entertainment, not strong on facts and overly dramatized.

Lloyd

I think if it was real the revenuers (ATF - Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) would have shut them down during the first season.

Moonshine wrote: "it's a show for entertainment, not strong on facts and overly dramatized."

Very true.

Law_Of_Ohms

oh no, the abv out of the still is too low, I know I'll just some sugar to the wash while its running.......

Lloyd

I can honestly say that by watching the show I've learned a thing or two...

... of what not to do =))

cooperville

I have heard that the whole show is a hoax as it is clearly illegal in this state or any state for that matter but the show has been designed to reenact the process of someone doing it for real Kind of entertaining but the lack of information on the show doesn't help with safety concerns which include the lads who come unstuck drinking the fores in QLD

Smaug

Too hard for me to watch. I made it through half of an episode and had to change the channel.

Damo

@Smaug said: Too hard for me to watch. I made it through half of an episode and had to change the channel.

I know what you mean, although I watched half of another one and then thought, oh ok I'll keep goin! Then my wife said the same thing. You think you don't want to watch but somehow when you do you enjoy it. It is hard though to figure out how much is set up, I mean those guys aren't actors so if it was all faked it'd certainly show. After watching a few episodes I went out and ordered some Masons jars, couldn't help it.

Damo.

Smaug

When they started splainin how ya pull off the cap (mid run mind you) and adding sugar to boost abv,,,,,I had enough. It did not at all appear that they were explaining how to step add sugar during fermentation (since they are using subs). But rather add during distillation??? Any one see that episode?

Law_Of_Ohms

Tickle for President!!!

Moonshine

Popcorn Sutton R.I.P.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E575kEtKRBs

When watching season 1 I had no idea that he wasn't among us any more till it was revealed on the show. :-O

Lloyd

Yeah, I can't get youtube here but word has it Popcorn sucked on an automobile tailpipe to avoid jail time. Correct me if I'm wrong because I'm a bit out of touch with current events.
He will be missed because he was a cantankerous old coot.

I've sometimes wondered if he had a Dash2 ..........

Law_Of_Ohms

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJtKMvUIhMQ

If only he would run for PM here in AUS

211

the next person who asks me how to make banana brandy, will get beaten to death with a banana. that submarine still they use. Galv steel sheet, wood and Ma's old bedsheets for caulking the seams. just mindless entertainment as realistic as if a camera crew was following a feral gardener around the Coromandal or Nimbin bush....

211

yeah popcorn has passed on. his widow and family now have a legal distillery that bares his name.

FullySilenced

211 that moonshiners show has to be real.... i saw it on TV... it was on right after Petticoat Junction

Lloyd

@FullySilenced said: 211 that moonshiners show has to be real.... i saw it on TV... it was on right after Petticoat Junction

=)) =))

Moonshine

Whoever thinks it's not real is not watching closely! Have you seen drunk Tickle fall of that shed construction in the woods onto the edge of the truck cracking some ribs which could only be healed by drinking enough freshly made Moonshine? X_X

SDeurope

@Lloyd said: Yeah, I can't get youtube here but word has it Popcorn sucked on an automobile tailpipe to avoid jail time. Correct me if I'm wrong because I'm a bit out of touch with current events.
He will be missed because he was a cantankerous old coot.

I've sometimes wondered if he had a Dash2 ..........

That's like telepathy! I have been imagining the Popcorn video with the title "If he only had known a StillDragon...".

@Smaug should send them an e-mail offering product placement. Think of Tim & Tickle with a 8" Crystal Dragon in the woods. :))

Oh wait, in season 2 Tim wants to go legal, he has even started building a new shed on his property for the still (no spoilers please, I've just started watching season 2), so what better could happen to them than to get hands on some fine SD equipment, once Tim has finally found some investors (or sold the booze he hid in the Tobacco field).

FullySilenced

if your up to the tobacco field part you still got some watchin to do

RedRex

Ok, so just to point out some things. The ATFE doesn't handle this anymore as they got pulled into Homeland Security. So they are more just like the FE and no AT. That is now handled by the TTB, a branch of the IRS.

The show is fake because if not they would just tail these guys all the time.

Submarine stills like that are real. They use the same techniques small boat builders have used for hundreds of years. I don't care much for them but they are out there.

Popcorn did commit suicide but that bit about his wife and the distillery. All the stories I've heard are that it's selling like hot cakes and everyone but his family is making a boatload of cash off of the stuff.

applepie

So the submarine still that was mentioned is legit. In that area there were lots of them. Some were 800-1200 gallons ea. Some large still sites in that area had 10-20 or more of them on one site. I am in that area. They were made with a wooden frame inside and copper sheet nailed around the bottom and front and top with wooden sides. Most of them made rot gut. They made the mash in the pot and fermented in the pot. Most racked nothing, nothing . They distilled on grain and didn't take out lees (well most didnt). The still can make good likkkker.

I like the moonshiners show. I know that its not the popular answer. If its got to do with shine I like it good or bad. Yea, I know its fake but its like wrestling (WWE) its fake also but it is entertaining. They are boiling water. It has beading oil in the water so when they shake to see how high proof it is it looks real.

Smaug

Far as I can tell,,,,,,,(and I could be wrong) Tim and Tickle could use some study hall....But I'd be happy to let em evaluate the SD product line on their TV show.

emptyglass

Your breaking my heart guys, next your going to tell me shows like "Pawn Stars" , "swamp guys" and "gator boys" are all staged. I suppose after that you are going to crush my childhood memories by saying Colonel Klink wasn't actually German. Maxwell Smart's shoe phone is next I guess. I suppose you are also going to tell me "Pimp my ride" does something to the engines of the POS cars they put on their show. Damn you dream breakers. And whats wrong with adding sugar to the still to up the ABV? Thats how it works, I saw it on TV

Lloyd

No, it's all real. I know this because I saw it on the TV.

No bubbles burst, emptyglass. Maxwell Smart's shoe phone was the first legitimate cell phone although it was inconvenient to receive calls while dancing.

bentstick

@emptyglass said: Your breaking my heart guys, next your going to tell me shows like "Pawn Stars" , "swamp guys" and "gator boys" are all staged. I suppose after that you are going to crush my childhood memories by saying Colonel Klink wasn't actually German. Maxwell Smart's shoe phone is next I guess. I suppose you are also going to tell me "Pimp my ride" does something to the engines of the POS cars they put on their show. Damn you dream breakers. And whats wrong with adding sugar to the still to up the ABV? Thats how it works, I saw it on TV

And everyone drives around town with a pickup bed full of plastic milk jugs,and sets up their kit on someone else's property! =))

punkin

applepie

So I got to admit it, you guys are crazy! I like it. I said something funny stupid at another site and got my hand slapped within 3 minutes. Nothing any worse than said here. So gator hunting in the morning and shining all night.

emptyglass

Ok, so we can't believe the TV. Damn good thing we have the internet to rely on for truth!

Moonshine

Yay, season 3 just started yesterday! Don't spoil, I haven't seen it yet. ;)

captainshooch

@Moonshine it's entertainment, you ain't missing much =))