moonshiners tv show-is what I noticed for real

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Hilltop
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Re: moonshiners tv show-is what I noticed for real

Post by Hilltop »

I'm watching the newest 2/20/18 "sour mash unfiltered" episode for a laugh. In it Mark runs a run of corn saves it then puts corn malt, sugar and yeast back in the barrel and ferments it again.

He's calling it sour mash but I see no backseat being added. Only the single run liqueur from the previous run.

I've never seen liqueur made like this called sour mash. I also saw no type of ph adjustment. What is the definition of this type process.
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Re: moonshiners tv show-is what I noticed for real

Post by Hilltop »

I also notice the mash if thats even what it really is, is cloudy he doesnt let it clear and runs alot of solids. If i did that i would scorch my boiler.
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Re: moonshiners tv show-is what I noticed for real

Post by Oldvine Zin »

Ifin its on tv its gota be reel - or is that the internet?? :)

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Re: moonshiners tv show-is what I noticed for real

Post by thecroweater »

Show is not on free to air here and if I'm gonna pay for bullshit it'd wanna be the sort us can grow corn on. That said I seen it on my sister's pay TV and youtube from time to time. First thing if you are using a thumper it ain't singlings as a thump box it a type of doubler. I seem one show where some fellas rolled someone's stash, the five away for that being fake was the fella still had a pulse :lol:. Then there was the time they put sugar in the charge to up the proof, reality and TV don't fit together. I reckon if they showed some accuracy they would get shut down so fast. Tis only a fool would take it literally, world's full of em though.
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Re: moonshiners tv show-is what I noticed for real

Post by Hilltop »

Guys I'm aware most of the show is bs, but back on point, has anyone else heard of this method being called sour mash?
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Re: moonshiners tv show-is what I noticed for real

Post by Shine0n »

Not that I've ever seen.
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Re: moonshiners tv show-is what I noticed for real

Post by Hilltop »

Me either brother. Some ph adjustment would be needed or the new sugar wash started on top of the first run liqueur would stall.

Also any corn mash I've run the last two decades always had a yellow tint. If one looks that mash is white almost like a rice mash.

I'm sure that show gets some folks interested and they eventually find there way here. So I think this thread is important so we can point out the bs.
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Re: moonshiners tv show-is what I noticed for real

Post by cede »

Oldvine Zin wrote:Ifin its on tv its gota be reel - or is that the internet?? :)
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Re: moonshiners tv show-is what I noticed for real

Post by Hilltop »

For those that want to get into home distilling there is one obvious thing about this episode that should let you know that it's gotta be fake.

1st run or 3rd all corn liqueur once distilled is clear as a bell. Go back and watch the episode again and ask yourself if that first run solid white liqueur he poured into the barrel is clear.

The process he used is totally out of whack that's what caught my attention. I've never seen anyone make sour mash without backset or extremely soured corn.

None of that episode makes sense. Why wait number one, why add more yeast when you have a barrel full. We don't waste money in this hobby as it's expensive enough as it is. If this was truly Marks process he would have immediately put his first run liqueur right back in the barrel and reused his yeast.
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Re: moonshiners tv show-is what I noticed for real

Post by Mike6090 »

You can’t watch breaking bad and learn how to cook meth. Why is this any different?
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Re: moonshiners tv show-is what I noticed for real

Post by nerdybrewer »

Hilltop wrote:For those that want to get into home distilling there is one obvious thing about this episode that should let you know that it's gotta be fake.

1st run or 3rd all corn liqueur once distilled is clear as a bell. Go back and watch the episode again and ask yourself if that first run solid white liqueur he poured into the barrel is clear.

The process he used is totally out of whack that's what caught my attention. I've never seen anyone make sour mash without backset or extremely soured corn.

None of that episode makes sense. Why wait number one, why add more yeast when you have a barrel full. We don't waste money in this hobby as it's expensive enough as it is. If this was truly Marks process he would have immediately put his first run liqueur right back in the barrel and reused his yeast.
Having had some experience, won't say where here as it could ID me, I can say that what you see on the boob tube is a lot less of what may have "really happened" and a lot more of what someone who has some letters after his / her name decides to paste together. Many times I've watched something and knew for a fact that wasn't how it went during filming. Having letters after your name means you get to decide how it "should" have went.

Also I've noticed a lot more of the characters tossing out the heads and talking about safety and stuff like that lately, so keep those cards and letters pouring in it seems to work!
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Re: moonshiners tv show-is what I noticed for real

Post by Hilltop »

Mike6090 wrote:You can’t watch breaking bad and learn how to cook meth. Why is this any different?
I'm aware of that but I think it's important to set the record straight to the young and impressionable, don't you? The only good thing about that show is most people end up here who truly want to learn.
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Re: moonshiners tv show-is what I noticed for real

Post by cede »

Hilltop wrote:Guys I'm aware most of the show is bs, but back on point, has anyone else heard of this method being called sour mash?
I was re reading the thread and this is not what I call sour mashing.
There are many ways to sour mash as far as Lactobaccillus is involved ;)
I will have a look at the ep if I can find it, but i doubt i'll learn any :mrgreen:
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Re: moonshiners tv show-is what I noticed for real

Post by goose eye »

Y'all know if that company got a fuel permit

So I'm tole
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Re: moonshiners tv show-is what I noticed for real

Post by kekedog13 »

You know what I just realized, they don't focus so much on the law looking for them as they did in the earlier seasons.
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Re: moonshiners tv show-is what I noticed for real

Post by Hilltop »

goose eye wrote:Y'all know if that company got a fuel permit

So I'm tole
I dont know Goose, That mash aint corn. I think them boys is distilling rice water. Looks fake to me
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Re: moonshiners tv show-is what I noticed for real

Post by Soft batch »

I loved the "floating" buckets down the river. They were so light they barely broke the surface.
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Re: moonshiners tv show-is what I noticed for real

Post by Hilltop »

Soft batch wrote:I loved the "floating" buckets down the river. They were so light they barely broke the surface.
i know right! lol! the Tim Smith guy acts like his recipe is some golden secret. If you watch them drain the tank at chucks distillery you see grain on the side of the tank that definatly isnt corn. Its either rye or oats, i tasted a bottle, there is no rye in it, if it iz its not much. Chuck grows barley on hos farm so it may be in there too, but i dont have much experience with Barley as it doesnt grow around here. His recipe is corn and oats. Nothing that moonshiners have not used since way before Tim Smith.

oats smooth out corn somehow. I like corn, oats with rye. I just made some corn and rye with enzymes that i soaked with charred oak and long grain rice thats one smooth drop.

Chuck Miller should be the star of the show, he has the largest copper pot in America. His mash is real as he has the permit. He seems like a down to earth fellow.
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Re: moonshiners tv show-is what I noticed for real

Post by Appalachia-Shiner »

Everyone has made some good points.
Probably Goose Eye made the best one regarding the alleged price these fellas are getting for a gallon of Shine.....It must be Pappy Van Winkle these folks is making.
The early shows with the law sneaking around the woods are long gone.....just plain ridiculous.
The later ones are slightly less ridiculous, with a bit of truth ingrained in there sometimes.
I do covet some of the stainless steel equipment you see occasionally.
I never watch a complete episode, just can't stand it.
Bout run it's course I say.
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Re: moonshiners tv show-is what I noticed for real

Post by thecroweater »

:lol: @ A S, was the same back home years back, someone would get busted with such and such. The fella on the TV would say a street value of X $$ and we'd say where in the hell is this street where all the millionaires must be made :lolno:
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Re: moonshiners tv show-is what I noticed for real

Post by Kareltje »

I asked several times about the high prices, but got reprimanded. If I was a buyer, I would prefer to buy legal booze in stead of moonshine for the same or even a higher price.
I learned a few things from the series, but only because I know distilling.
In my case we also have the problem of translation: some translaters clearly did not know what they were talking about.
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Re: moonshiners tv show-is what I noticed for real

Post by cede »

Kareltje wrote: In my case we also have the problem of translation: some translaters clearly did not know what they were talking about.
It might not be the translater's fault.... maybe the one who wrote the script had no clue about stilling :)
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Re: moonshiners tv show-is what I noticed for real

Post by Oldvine Zin »

It's a TV show! - Fantasy looking like reality - This is the business that I'm in, I make up crap presentations - nothing is real but is made to make a buck, glad that we either amused you or fooled you.

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Re: moonshiners tv show-is what I noticed for real

Post by Kareltje »

cede wrote:
Kareltje wrote: In my case we also have the problem of translation: some translaters clearly did not know what they were talking about.
It might not be the translater's fault.... maybe the one who wrote the script had no clue about stilling :)
That too! But I heard the word corn and it was translated with the Dutch word for grain. Or when talking about a spring with nice, clean water the spring was translated with the Dutch word for the spring season, not the start of a brooke.

It is clear the episodes are cut and pasted and the procedures are only partly shown. But what do you expect? I am happy they do not show all the waiting for a run from start to finish or all the work in mashing. That would be really boring! :yawn:
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Re: moonshiners tv show-is what I noticed for real

Post by Pikey »

Kareltje wrote:
cede wrote:
Kareltje wrote: In my case we also have the problem of translation: some translaters clearly did not know what they were talking about.
It might not be the translater's fault.... maybe the one who wrote the script had no clue about stilling :)
That too! But I heard the word corn and it was translated with the Dutch word for grain..........
I think that's fair enough K - In UK "Corn" is the generic term for any grain - barley, wheat, maize, Oats etc - I wouldn't expect a translater to know the Americans use it to mean Maize only - bear in mind (s)he IS an "English translater" - not specifically to know the aberrations of the American version.

"Spring water" - I cannot condone that. Perhaps (s)he was an economy version of a translater ! :lol:
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Re: moonshiners tv show-is what I noticed for real

Post by RedwoodHillBilly »

Does it really matter. Just watch the show without sound, and it'll still be entertaining. You'll know that it has no bearing with reality.

I call these programs "surreality" shows. :-)
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Re: moonshiners tv show-is what I noticed for real

Post by Kareltje »

Pikey wrote:
Kareltje wrote:That too! But I heard the word corn and it was translated with the Dutch word for grain..........
I think that's fair enough K - In UK "Corn" is the generic term for any grain - barley, wheat, maize, Oats etc - I wouldn't expect a translater to know the Americans use it to mean Maize only - bear in mind (s)he IS an "English translater" - not specifically to know the aberrations of the American version.

"Spring water" - I cannot condone that. Perhaps (s)he was an economy version of a translater ! :lol:
Oh, you are right, Pikey. But on the screen it was clearly maize. And the talk was also about the importance of clean, cool water.
Besides that: moonshiners is definitely about the USoA, not about the UK.

I have seen some more mistakes of translators. Neutral in stead of natural in an official document of the EU.
But I do not blame them: their profession is language, not all the different and varied trades they know nothing of.

In my mind I try to check everything that enters, confront it with all the other contents of it and then try to decide if I believe it or not. This attitude served me well until now.
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Re: moonshiners tv show-is what I noticed for real

Post by Antler24 »

Last week's episode the two newest guys were making a run and the thumper started collapsing in on itself. One guy stuck his finger in the work trying to blow the thumper back out to original shape with pressure. Blew the cap off it lol how the hell does a thumper start collapsing on itself mid run?
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Re: moonshiners tv show-is what I noticed for real

Post by zapata »

Well, it'd be disastrous but I can come up with a possible scenario. Mid run, plug both the thumper in and out lines. Now no heat is coming from the boiler so it starts to cool, but the outlet is plugged too so no air can get in and it collapses.
But yeah, the bigger problem would be the now presurizing boiler!
A far more likely scenario is "hey, let's see if we can make the thumper collapse on this episode, and then we'll do something dumb. And, ACTION!"
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