Remember kids,
Don't try anything you see on this show at home.
We're experts.
And this was like this when we got here.
[ piano music plays ]
Narrator: On this episode of "mythshiners"...
The team gets loaded with a double shot of moonshine myths.
Okay, go ahead and fire it up.
First, could your hooch house be blown to bits...
This entire house is gonna leap five feet in the air.
Narrator: ...By an exploding still?
And could a tank of that old white lightnin'...
I think this thing is running on moonshine and a prayer.
...Have enough juice to run your car?
This is what moonshine is all about!
Find out as the mythbusters hit the hard stuff.
Whoa, nelly!
Who are the mythbusters?
Adam savage...
I got the chicken! Ha!
Narrator: ...And jamie hyneman.
I'm ready.
Narrator: Between them, more than 30 years
Of special-effects experience.
Together with grant imahara...
R-a-a-a-a-h!
Narrator: ...Kari byron...
Always makes me feel dangerous.
Narrator: ...And tory belleci.
There's something you don't see every day.
Narrator: They don't just tell the myths.
They put them to the test.
-- Captions by vitac -- www.Vitac.Com
Captions paid for by discovery communications
Deep in the appalachian mountains,
The moonshiners battle the elements...
...Each other, and the law...
Man: You never know when you got to run.
Narrator: ...To continue the proud tradition of moonshine.
It's a tradition steeped in legend,
And where there's legend, there's the mythbusters.
So, first up, adam and jamie are starting with a bang.
You ever tried moonshine, jamie?
Do you think I should answer that?
Eh, probably okay.
Well, then I probably have.
Have you ever made moonshine, though?
Do you think I should answer that?
[ chuckles ] probably not.
Well, then I probably haven't.
But you are familiar with the idea
That moonshining carries with it some dangers
That can achieve mythical proportions.
You mean like it can burn more than your throat?
Exactly.
What we've got here is a story
About a moonshiner makin' moonshine
When something goes wrong
And blows his entire moonshining shack to smithereens.
That sounds great.
According to this legend,
A moonshiner is distilling his liquor,
When suddenly...
No more shack.
But could a still really blow your hut to high heaven?
How do you think the best way to tackle this story is?
Well, this story's about an exploding moonshiner shack,
So we're gonna have to build a shack.
Of course.
But if you're gonna make moonshine,
You're gonna need a still.
Well, maybe that's where we start.
Just go downstairs, make a still,
And start brewing our own alcohol.
You betcha.
Adam is testing his "metal"
By building an authentic copper still...
It's important to really get into your work.
Narrator: ...And it's a "riveting" process.
[ laughs ] what am I doing, you ask?
I'm having fun.
Narrator: Fun, but every last joint and bolt
Must be carefully sealed...
Beautiful.
Narrator: ...To ensure it's airtight,
And the moonshine vapor will have nowhere to go but up.
[ laughing ]
I feel like a drink.
Narrator: From there, it's the job of the condenser...
That's the last time I make everyone slinkys for christmas.
Narrator: ...To twist that vapor back into liquid hooch.
Adam: [ laughs ]
Well, that was easier than I thought it would be.
Jamie: While adam's scratch-building his still,
I've got ahold of this stainless steel milk canister,
Which has been modified just for the purposes
Of using it as a still.
There's the heating element.
It's the same thing they use in a water heater.
It's perfect for this.
And there we go. Ready to start shinin'.
Narrator: But before they shine on,
They'll need the most important ingredient -- the mash.
So, this is the stuff we're gonna get alcohol out of.
Absolutely.
What is it, exactly?
Uh, it's a good, old-fashioned corn mash.
This is predominantly about 65% corn
And malted wheat, malted barley.
A little messy but it works.
Mix those together, end up with about 10% alcohol
That we can then distill out to a higher proof.
It's a process that's as old as the appalachian mountains.
But just how does it work?
Adam: At the bottom is a pot.
It's filled with a mixture of water and components of alcohol.
At the bottom of that pot is an electrical heating element
Which is heating that mixture up.
Now, when that heating element reaches 172 degrees,
Which is the boiling point of alcohol,
But not yet the boiling point of water,
Alcohol vapor starts to form.
It moves up the column on the left there,
And then it starts to go down
Through the twisty copper in the condenser.
That water that's in the condenser
Is cooling down the gaseous alcohol
Until it comes out of the bottom
As really nice high-octane alcohol.
Isn't that cool?
Narrator: Yep, and soon we should see some ill-gotten grain alcohol.
Well, actually, not so ill-gotten.
Normally, when we say, "don't try this at home"
There's a safety issue involved.
In this case, you shouldn't try this at home
But for a different reason --
It's illegal to distill on your own.
So, we went ahead and did it right.
We got a permit, that's what you need to be able to do this.
Jamie: Wow, it's actually working.
Yeah, it looks like we got something. Mmm, it tastes dangerous.
That's high proof.
Yeah, that is high proof.
We should, uh, grab a hydrometer, give it a test,
See what we're coming out at. [ chuckles ]
I thought it was gonna be a drip, drip, drip,
But that's a faucet.
Looks like we got about 156 proof.
We not have a couple of working alcohol distillation machines.
Now it's time for us to go out into the field
And see how these working stills can fail.
[ coughs ]
Narrator: Next, kari, tory, and grant
Are fueling up for a moonshine run.
I'm really excited
About this whole "moonshiners" crossover episode.
What are we testing?
Well, we've got a myth that's really common.
I mean, it's been on "back to the future,"
"lawless," "dukes of hazzard."
And that is that you can run a car on nothing but moonshine
Without any modifications, and it'll be totally fine.
Well, this gives a whole new meaning
To driving under the influence,
Which is illegal.
But, I guess they're moonshiners, so they don't care.
Man: Contact.
Narrator: There's a reason the moonshiners
Call their stuff "white lightnin'."
That's some fine sippin' liquor.
Randy, you could run your car on that.
But could you really run your ride on that old mountain dew?
All right, so I get the concept.
Can an unmodified car run on moonshine?
But it's a little vague, right?
True, I mean, they don't say what kind of car,
What kind of moonshine, or even the definition of run.
All right, well, why don't we start off simple?
Let's get three different cars from three different decades.
We'll get a carbureted one,
A fuel-injected one, and a brand-new car,
And we'll fill it up with the most typical type of moonshine
And see if the cars even drive.
Narrator: Okay, so it's not just one for the road, it's three.
All the cars are the same make and model,
But grant's flashing back to the '90s
And tory's groovin' in the '70s.
You guys ready to party?
Whoo! [ laughs ]
Grant: So, this is our course for today's experiment.
It's designed to put our cars to the test in various ways...
[ tires squeal ]
...Including starting from a stop, acceleration,
Precision maneuvering, and three-point turns.
Now we're gonna put moonshine in and, assuming they start,
We'll put each vehicle through three laps and score them.
And based on that, we'll find out which era vehicle,
If any, performs the best on moonshine.
What I have here is traditional moonshine.
Now, this is what we're gonna be using to fuel our cars.
Now, this particular moonshine's about 192 proof,
Which means it's about 96% ethanol.
That goes down smooth.
Now, ethanol is the fuel that race cars use,
So there is a chance that this could work,
However, our cars are far from race cars.
They're not tuned up for this kind of fuel,
So is this gonna be an effective fuel?
We're about to find out.
[ sputters ]
Narrator: First to cruise on the booze, it's tory's '70s car.
Tory: I'm driving a '73 vehicle which, by the way, has a carburetor.
Now, a carburetor's job is
To mix the fuel and the air together
So that the engine runs smoothly.
Now, if there's not enough fuel and too much air,
The vehicle is gonna be running lean,
Which means it might not run at all.
Okay, here we go.
This is moonshine in a carbureted car
In three, two, one...
[ engine sputters ]
Oh! Oh, my god. Here we go.
[ engine turns over ]
[ cheers ]
All right. Kari: Let's do it!
Whoo-hoo!
I think this thing is running on moonshine and a prayer.
I think it's just running on a prayer at this moment.
[ engine sputters ]
Is that stalled? I think it's stalled.
Oh! [ chuckles ]
It stalled.
[ engine turns over ] oh, started again.
I'm not getting away from any cop
If I'm driving that car on the moonshine.
Narrator: So, after less than one complete lap...
Man, moonshine in a carbureted car --
Not the best gas.
...It's clear the carburetor can't handle
The 4% water in the hooch.
[ tires screech ]
Three, two, one.
[ engine turns over ]
Whoo! That was a good start.
But could a different way of dispersing fuel
Give the '90s car the edge?
Grant: Now, these '90s-era cars are fuel injected,
Which means that the fuel is pumped
Through a tiny nozzle at high pressure
And that atomizes the gas immediately.
All right, here comes the acceleration test.
Ahh!
[ tires squeal ]
No worries. [ laughs ]
Tory: That's one lap down.
Running better on moonshine than I would.
Two to go.
Whoa. Almost feeling like it might die.
Having trouble with the idle.
This is not good.
Come on, come on. Oh, whoa.
Ooh, I hear a bit of stuttering in the engine.
They seem to be losing a little bit of acceleration.
Narrator: Yep, it seems the moonshine isn't compatible
With a fuel-injected '90s car.
At first, it was going really, really well,
But as the test went on, it started to hesitate from a stop.
It was jerking while it was idling.
We had a loss of power.
Narrator: So, although the '70s car and the '90s car
Struggled with the white whiskey,
Will the modern car have a taste for moonshine?
That clears your sinuses.
All right, so I'm driving the 2013 car.
I'm sort of glass half full and half empty on this one.
I mean, it's a new car, so it's not a flex fueled,
But it does have a sophisticated computer
That might be able to recognize an alternative fuel.
But moonshine, being ethanol,
Burns a lot hotter than gasoline.
It might just burn out the engine altogether.
In three, two, one...
[ engine sputters ]
It's not starting.
Come on. Give it a second.
[ engine turns over ]
Whoo! Here we go, jump in! Good luck.
Narrator: Although it was slow to start,
The 2013 is off and most definitely running.
It feels a little off, but not in a bad way.
Grant: So far, I don't hear any clunking, like,
You know when you have the wrong kind of fuel in there?
This car is taking it all in stride.
I can't believe this is not actually bad.
I'm shocked.
Narrator: So, after completing three almost perfect laps,
It's clear the unmodified, modern car and its computer
Can handle the hard stuff.
So, this one's confirmed.
You can run a car on moonshine.
That is so bizarre.
Narrator: Later...
You're going down, sucker.
...But first...
Adam: Aren't we inadvertently testing "a watched pot never boils"?
You know, I was gonna say the same thing.
Whoa!
Narrator: Because they spend their lives
On the wrong side of the law,
Moonshiners are always on the lookout for trouble.
And when it comes to trouble,
A boiler full of flammable vapor is top of the list.
But could a still really explode and take a shack down with it?
Adam: Feel like making some alcohol?
And blowing some stuff up.
Yeah, let's fire up the boiler.
Well, first they've got to build their still house.
That's the floor, let's screw it down.
Yeah.
It's a quick and dirty shack
That's got three walls in no time...
There it is.
...And a clear fourth wall
To ensure they get their boom with a view.
Everything's really clear.
Narrator: So, now to bring in the still.
If this is a story about an exploding still,
What is it exactly
That is supposed to make the still explode?
Well, as the mash burns and alcohol is produced,
Particulate matter can actually build up inside this thing
And cause a clog.
Now, when that clog happens,
All of a sudden you end up with alcohol with no outlet,
And that makes it become a pressure vessel.
And we all know what happens on "mythbusters"
When a pressure vessel fails.
Oh!
How am I going to induce that "clog" in the still?
With this -- a simple, half-inch copper cap
Soldered to the only outlet for the alcohol.
That is perfect.
Now, once we've eliminated its outlet
And start to heat it up, it will find its own way out.
The question we're going to answer
With that experiment is, how bad will it be?
Narrator: So, for their worst-case scenario still failure,
They've deliberately blocked the outlet.
Adam: Because we're looking for the worst-case scenario,
I'm using 200-proof alcohol.
That is pure alcohol.
We are ready to go.
Narrator: Distilling from pure alcohol means more vapors
And should mean more pressure for the still.
Adam: Everything looks good, temperature's rising steadily.
It's at 100. Jamie: Excellent.
Let the pressure begin.
With no outlet,
The pressure inside the still builds,
And so does the heat.
The temperature's climbing like a rocket.
And, as the temperature within the still
Skyrockets to 500 degrees, the room starts to cook.
That's enough heat to autoignite
All the wood in there if it had air.
So my question is, is it enough to make the vessel fail?
That's what I'm hoping.
Smoke coming out the top.
[ glass shatters ]
Smoke out the top. No signal.
Oh, we just lost signal on the camera.
That means it got crazy, crazy, crazy hot in there.
Yep.
[ glass shatters ]
After 30 minutes of their worst-case scenario,
Still no room boom.
But there is fire in the hole.
I see flame coming out all over the place now.
I'm starting to suspect that,
Somewhere in the piping leading out of my still,
There's a failure.
We might not get a failure of the actual vessel
Because it's just leaking consistently in that space
And feeding this fire.
Adam's right.
Because ethanol burns with an invisible flame,
It's hard to see.
But the vapors are hitting the burner and fueling the fire.
Should we think about putting it out?
I think so.
I don't think there are any big build ups of fumes in there.
No, I'm gonna put on the fire suit.
Okay.
Adam is quick to hose down the wreckage.
Might as well let it burn.
There's nothing salvageable in there.
The still is totally destroyed.
Okay.
But it's the lack of an explosion
That really put the damper on this myth.
Nothing that we predicted or expected to happen
Happened as we thought it might.
Open flames started working beautifully.
We were getting some nice high temperatures on my still.
But instead of acting
Like a pressure vessel that fails catastrophically,
Once it got up to heat, it seemed to fail...
What's the opposite of catastrophic?
Laconically, lackadaisically.
Don't get me wrong, if you came upon this
And this was your shack
And you came upon it the next morning,
You'd be like, "hey, my shack blew up."
But I'm here to tell you there's no explosion there.
[ sighs ] no explosion.
No, so sad, but that was just one scenario,
And there are others.
It's true, there are.
Shall we set one up?
Let's do it.
Narrator: There's no doubt that moonshine can be very strong stuff.
All right, here we go. We got some moonshine a-going.
[ laughs ]
And it even looks like you can run a car on it.
So, we put moonshine in a car, and it ran.
That's myth confirmed, right?
Not as far as I'm concerned.
I've always heard the myth that a car running on moonshine
Will outrun a car running on gas,
That the moonshine will outperform the gasoline.
I mean, that's how they portray it in the movies, right?
All right, well, why don't we continue our tests
With our best-performing car.
Let's also mess with the formulations for the moonshine,
Find the best proof to run in the car,
Put it head-to-head against a gas-fueled vehicle,
And do, sort of, a comparison -- a moonshine run.
A moonshine showdown. I like it.
Narrator: And with the burden of three kinds of proof onboard...
You got the hooch?
Narrator: ...It's time to see which liquor is quicker.
Kari: St. George distilleries has been kind enough
To make us a full range
Of different proof moonshine for our experiment today.
We have 151, 170 and 192,
Which we've been using in our previous experiment.
So here's how this test is gonna go --
We're gonna start here at the start line,
And I'm gonna stomp on the gas as soon as tory says...
Go for it. [ engine revs ]
We'll time how long it takes to get up to 60 miles an hour.
When I get there, I'll say "stop."
Time 6.9 seconds.
We're gonna average that three times in a row for each proof.
The proof that has the fastest time is the winner.
Narrator: So, first the car is drained of gas
And then liquored up with the 151 proof.
Come on, bobby joe.
The cops are on our tails, we got to get out of here.
In three, two, one, go!
Go!
We're having technical difficulties.
Go-o-o!
[ engine turns over ]
All right, here we go.
[ laughs ]
Oh, it doesn't like it.
Narrator: It seems the 151 is literally a non-starter.
We got to get to the still before the police show up.
And despite an attempted bump start, it's all systems no.
I don't think this is how the moonshiners do it.
All right, I think we should just call it.
I don't have the energy to continue with this test.
There's no way we're ever getting that to 60 or even five.
Sorry, I couldn't push that fast.
[ laughter ]
Narrator: Next, they raise the bar,
Draining the 151 and refueling with the 170 proof.
[ engine turns over ]
But will this "white lightnin'" be lightning fast?
Go!
Well, it's a little sluggish off the line.
Tory: Nineteen and a half seconds,
22 seconds, 16.7 seconds
To get up to 60 miles an hour on 170 proof.
Excellent.
With an average of 19.4,
There's still room for improvement.
So, can the 96% ethanol, 192 proof, power to victory?
Well, I'm not driving.
Kari: Okay, guys, this is
Moonshine run zero to 60 test with 192 proof.
In three, two, one, go!
Go! Go!
[ engine revs ]
Nine point six five seconds, 8.94 seconds,
9.78 seconds to get up to 60 miles an hour.
Narrator: And clearly, off the line, the 192 is the quicker liquor.
Tory: So, it turns out 192-proof moonshine
Worked best in our vehicle.
Now that we have our moonshine, and we have our best vehicle,
It's time to put it up against gasoline.
Narrator: It's the "mythbusters" moonshine happy hour,
And there's still more thrills and spills to come.
That totally didn't work out like I was hoping.
My still's failure mode was less catastrophic and more,
Shall we say melty, than I was hoping for.
Yeah, yours still got a slow leak
That was feeding a fire underneath.
Mine didn't have that problem.
It had an internal electric heating element.
Right, so in theory, your still could keep on leaking
And there's no ready ignition source
To take care of that gas.
Well, yeah, and then the fumes would just keep building up
Until you had the perfect explosive fuel-air mix.
And then, if you get, like, a short circuit or a spark,
Or a moonshiner lighting a cigarette...
Boom.
Narrator: It's an altogether different kind of failure,
But historically
Igniting rooms full of flammable gas...
Am I missing an eyebrow?
...Is a lot harder than you'd think.
See, the problem is that the worst thing that can happen
When you have a chamber full of flammable gas and air
Is nothing.
If it doesn't ignite, nobody wants to go near that thing.
It's a dangerous thing, so we must get ignition,
And I'm going to troubleshoot our ignition source
Here in the shop before we head out to the field
And put all our eggs in one basket, or shack.
It's not pretty, but it'll work, I promise.
So, the set up is pretty straightforward.
First, we need a shack for the experiment to happen in,
And that's done.
Then, we need some alcohol.
Here's some I prepared earlier.
No, seriously, this is my alcohol
From the earlier distillation.
Then, we need a way to turn that alcohol from a liquid into a gas
And that's with a hot plate and a pan.
Then, we need a way to ignite that and that is with our handy
[groans] 15,000 volt neon transformer.
I'm gonna put the two contacts in there,
That'll create a nice spark, and hopefully that'll give us
The guaranteed pop we're looking for.
Now we wait.
Narrator: With all eyes on the proof of concept shack,
It's not long until the alcohol vapor starts to fog.
I'm seeing vapor.
Yeah, me too.
So it's time to flick the ignition switch.
Miniature shack in three, two, one.
[ switch clicks ]
Nothing.
Nothing. I can see the spark from here.
Yeah.
Nothing.
The dreaded nothing has happened.
Let's leave everything unplugged, wait ten minutes,
And then go and clear the area.
Okay.
Ten minutes later and the ethanol vapor has cleared,
But shouldn't it have been easier to ignite?
It seems like the alcohol vapor is settling to the bottom,
And it's ending up being really striated.
How are we gonna guarantee ignition in this thing?
Well, we've had a lot of luck before
By igniting some sort of a larger thing,
Like a paper towel or whatever.
And getting a flame going on in there.
So, with the addition of a rag...
Second time's the charm.
...The vapor should ignite this time around.
Jamie: Yeah, I see mist coming down.
It looks like it's building up in the bottom of the container.
Oh, look at that. It totally is getting foggy down there.
I think we should turn off the burner and set it off.
All right. All right, here we go.
Spark test with a little bit of fire.
Three, two, one.
Whoa! [ laughs ]
The rag put the torch to the ethanol,
Exploding the shack just as they hoped it would,
And it's clear those alcohol fumes sure are dangerous.
Oops, we got a little bit of a fire going on.
Sorry. Oh!
You know, I was gonna try and hold it closed.
Oh, I see what you were --
Okay, uh, now where's co2?
That's not co2, I guess, but it did the trick.
[ laughs ] it certainly did.
Uh, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say
I think that's an incredibly effective ignition method
And let's go with it.
Works for me.
But the question now is
Will it be just as explosive super sized?
There's no doubt that if you brew it just right...
Finally. Good liquor, man.
...You can run your car on moonshine...
[ engine turns over ] whoo!
...Provided you have the right car...
This car's taking it all in stride.
Narrator: ...And the right moonshine.
But could white whiskey ever outgun gas?
You ready for some new, awesome memories at this track?
I'm ready to do some racing.
Jamie: So for our moonshine fuel face-off,
We've come out to the petaluma speedway.
We're going to test both speed and performance.
We have a course set up.
We have two identical cars.
They're both brand-new, 2013 cars.
The only difference is one is filled with moonshine,
One is filled with gasoline.
We're gonna have tory run the course
Three times in the gasoline vehicle,
Three times in the moonshine vehicle,
And whichever fuel has the fastest time wins.
Now, personally, I think the moonshine hasn't got a chance.
Narrator: Well, that's to come.
First, tory's setting the pace with regular, old gasoline.
In three, two, one, begin!
[ engine revs ]
And he's off to a wheel-spinning start.
Tory's top speed attempt has him drifting on the dirt.
Kari: Yeah! Well done!
Sharp turn, getting sideways to the inside.
Oh!
Narrator: Tory's got his foot to the floor,
But with this kind of track,
That means he's not getting much traction.
Tory: The gasoline car was performing so well
That as soon as you hit the accelerator,
The wheels are spinning.
Kari: That was a nice recovery on that fishtail.
So I was constantly having to readjust the steering
To stay on track so I didn't spin out,
And then I kept my speed up so that I'd get the best time.
[ cheers ]
Whoo! Come on in!
Narrator: The gasoline car takes the checkered flag
At two minutes and 26 seconds.
All right, let's move on to the moonshine car
And see how that one performs.
Now, gas versus moonshine,
I don't think moonshine's gonna handle this track very well.
Going from slow to fast quickly
Is not one of its strong points as I've seen so far.
I think gas is definitely gonna rule it here.
Okay, here goes moonshine run in three, two, one, go!
[ engine revs ]
Narrator: It's all down to tory,
But can the rocket fuel outperform the gas?
Kari: Whoo!
Look at that fishtail. Nice!
To confirm this myth,
The moonshine car has to complete three laps
In less than two minutes 26 seconds.
Tory: Now, we saw a little hesitation on the zero-to-60 test,
But out here on the track...
Whoo! Oh, my god!
I'm not feeling any hesitation whatsoever.
Whoa! [ laughs ]
I feel like there's too much power.
Narrator: Yep, it seems as though
The slower acceleration of the moonshine
Has the wheels taking the dirt track in their stride
And gaining on the gasoline.
Kari: God, I wonder if it's handling any different from the inside
'cause from here it looks fine.
Whoo-hoo!
Ah!
This moonshine's giving me a lot more get up and go.
We might be onto something here, man.
Maybe this is true.
This could be a tie. This could be it.
Ah, we're gonna -- we have time. Whoo!
Here we go!
Whoo! All right, what's that on the clock.
Oh, my god. It's amazing!
What was our time?
You beat it by two seconds.
Wait, we actually beat our time?
Yeah, you did!
Dude, that's amazing!
That's insane!
Narrator: Amazingly, the moonshine outgunned the gas,
But that's still not a definitive result for kari.
Kari: Moonshine has done amazingly well,
Far beyond what I expected
For both the speed and for performance,
But what I'd really like to see,
What I really think is gonna give moonshine a test
Is longevity.
I want to see a long moonshine run.
I mean, moonshiners are doing something illegal.
They're not just gonna pull over when the cops ask 'em.
They're gonna keep going.
They need to outrun them.
This is a run-and-gun situation.
I want to see if moonshine can stand up
To a real moonshine run when in a car.
Narrator: Yep, coming up,
The law catches up with our moonshiner.
Moonshiner!
What the heck! Let's get 'im.
But will it be last orders for the myth?
Whoa, nelly!
Do not try what you are about to see at home.
We're what you would call experts.
Welcome back.
In this episode, we've been investigating mythical ways
In which illegal alcohol stills might meet their end,
Hopefully via a destructive all-encompassing explosion.
Jamie: That whole thing is going down.
I know it might look like I'm standing
In the aftermath of a successful explosion,
But in fact, we have to admit
That this experimental setup was a bit of a dud.
Adam: The still is totally destroyed.
And so we built a second shed, exactly the same as the first,
Except in this one we will be investigating
A totally different kind of explosion.
We will have jamie's still in here,
And we're gonna pop a leak in it.
Now the hole in the middle of it will be a perfect leak.
When we have what we consider enough vapor,
We will introduce an open flame.
Whoa!
We consider this to be the highest percentage possibility
Of yielding the type of bye-bye shack fireball
That we were looking for.
Jamie: Well, that ought to do it.
Heat there, alcohol in there, alcohol vapor out here.
Boom.
Narrator: Well, boom, so long as the moonshine to air ratio is right.
Jamie: Alcohol vapor becomes flammable
Between 3% and 19% when combined with air.
The ideal ratio is 7%, though,
And so that's what we're gonna be aiming for.
But the thing is, our alcohol sensors
Are proving to be not so reliable,
So what we're gonna have to do
Is measure the oxygen content in the room...
There's our sensor, right there. Perfect.
...So we know that when we reach
An oxygen concentration of about 19.5%
As opposed to its normal 20.9% in the atmosphere,
We'll have our ideal 7% concentration of alcohol vapor,
And that's gonna give us our best shot.
Narrator: And to ensure ignition,
They're using their small-scale technique,
Time to soak our ignition source in lighter fluid.
Narrator: But that leaves one key question.
Jamie: How would this happen in the real world?
Let's say out moonshiner is out of smokes
And so he drives to town, leaving the still operating
Not knowing that there's a leak in it.
He comes back with his cigarettes,
Opens the door, lights one, and up she goes.
Adam: My prediction here is pretty straightforward.
You know, I like the overalls.
They make carrying him a lot easier.
I think this thing's gonna go ka-blum.
I can't possibly do it as loud as it will happen,
But I think the visual cue that it's going ka-blum
Is that this entire house is gonna leap five feet in the air.
Still's warming up, now we wait.
Narrator: The wait begins,
But will this be the shining scenario
That finally brings the still house down?
Adam: Starting oxygen reading's 20.9,
Our butter zone will be between 19.5 and 20.
Narrator: That's the explosive ratio,
And inside the shack,
The oxygen level is slowly inching towards it.
Oh, it's down to 20.3.
We can't see the vapor,
But it apparently is displacing oxygen -- 20.2.
Narrator: The guys prepare to bide their time
As the ethanol fumes fill their hut.
Wow, things are happening in there.
Our feed over here is getting fuzzy.
But, after just five minutes,
The air-to-moonshine mixture hits their explosive goal.
Jamie: It's 19.5.
All right, that's the ideal ratio. Shall we?
Yeah, let's see what happens.
Okay, here we go. Moonshining still explosion.
Well... Ignition.
[ laughs ] in three, two, one.
[ hissing ]
Whoa!
That was an explosion.
That was beautiful!
[ both chuckle ]
Yep, the still huffed and puffed and blew the house down.
That worked perfectly.
That worked absolutely perfectly.
Let's go check out the damage. Okay.
Jamie: Ah, it looks like the still's holding the building up.
[ both laugh ]
Adam: I wouldn't have expected that.
And it did blow apart the building,
As well as lift it off the foundation.
It did, but not five feet like I predicted, more like one foot.
Adam: Well, that was as awesome
As our first experiment was disappointing.
We actually got a ka-blum and a genuine whoomf
And a failure of our entire structure.
The only thing holding this building up at this point
Is the still that is inside it.
What's interesting though, to me,
Is that we didn't see a thing.
That room was not cloudy, there was nothing like
Any kind of teapot steam coming out of the nozzle,
Which I kind of expected.
So, you know,
If you were a moonshiner and you opened that door,
You wouldn't have any idea what was going on
Until it was too late.
Narrator: Which means, clearly this leaky still scenario is confirmed.
Jamie: So, what does this tell us?
Adam: Well, I think first and foremost,
We learned that a homebuilt still
Does not a destructive pressure vessel make.
Yes, but a leak in a still can create enough fumes
To blow a building apart.
Yeah, making moonshine is a dangerous business.
And we ain't even started drinking it yet.
Let's remedy that. All right.
Coming up.
Tory: Calling all cars, calling all cars.
We are in hot pursuit.
Whoa, nelly!
Can bootleggin' imahara and his firewater fuel
Outrun the long arm of the law?
Come on, moonshine, you can do it!
Every single thing we investigate on "mythbusters"
Has to do with a transfer of energy.
From one state to another, from one form to another,
From one place to another, often rapidly
And hopefully with disastrous results.
So, just check this out,
And watch how the rapid combustion
Of all the alcohol fumes in the shack
Causes it to expand.
The in-rush of oxygen causes fire
To just appear almost everywhere.
The corona of flame around the perimeter
As the atmosphere
Is combining with the oxygen and the gas fumes
In order to set everything on fire,
As well as the total destruction of the shed.
This is the best part of the job.
Grant: Ah, thunderhill, brings back memories, huh?
You're going down, sucker.
You're gonna have to catch me.
Tory: We're back at thunderhill,
The same place where we tested indy car myth,
But this time we're playing cops and moonshiners.
We're trying to see if moonshine will outperform gasoline,
And so far, it looks like they're pretty close.
Kari: You beat it by two seconds.
But now it's time for our next test -- longevity.
What we need to simulate here
Is a long car chase down a windy road,
And that's why thunderhill is ideal.
It's got twists, it's got turns, it's got a straightaway.
All right, we're about to start our moonshine run experiment.
This is how it's gonna go.
Chief's really getting on my nerves.
[ laughs ]
Tory and I are gonna be waiting
Next to that billboard right there.
We are cops eating doughnuts.
Keeps giving us these bum beats.
Well, there's plenty of doughnuts.
Now, when grant races by in his moonshine vehicle,
We are going to drop our doughnuts and jump in the car.
Grant's going to enter the thunderhill raceway track.
Now, when he does three laps, that's ten miles.
If in that time we can catch up to him
In our gas-powered vehicle, then the myth is busted.
If he makes it away from us, it's confirmed.
Narrator: And over on the wrong side of the tracks...
[ engine turns over ]
Yes! Good to go.
[ engine revs ]
Moonshiners!
What the heck! Let's get 'em.
Narrator: As grant powers past the police, the chase is on.
Grant: Whoo-hoo!
Here we go!
Whoa, nelly!
Narrator: With just over ten miles of high speed,
High tailing, hot pursuiting to go,
This is the ultimate test of endurance
For the unconventional fuel.
Grant: Come on, moonshine! You can do it!
Narrator: Both drivers are giving it everything they've got...
Yeah!
Whoo-hoo!
Way to keep it together.
...Pushing their vehicles to the limit.
This is insane.
He's performing like he's driving on gas.
The moonshine is unbelievable.
Narrator: Yep, incredibly,
Grant with his tank full of good ol' white lightnin'...
Grant: Ah, don't go, don't go off.
Narrator: ...Is hanging on to his lead.
Grant: All right, I've got to say, going into this test,
I was a little dubious.
They are never gonna catch me!
As I went in, I started driving,
And the first lap around I was being really careful.
And then, once I started to gain confidence,
I put the pedal to the metal.
The moonshine performed
Just as well as the gasoline, if not better.
[ tires screech ]
Yes! Take that coppers, I made it!
Moonshine!
Whoo-hoo!
Narrator: After ten miles of pedal to the metal,
Grant and his hooch have passed the endurance test...
He's gonna be smug. Yep, I can tell.
[ laughs ] that is one smug moonshiner.
...And successfully escaped the long arm of the law.
Let me see your hands.
I got nothing, I just got fuel in my car officer.
Well, that was some fine driving, son.
Wow, there's no way we could catch up to you.
Yeah, I mean, you were driving as if you were driving with gas.
You know what,
There was no problems at all here on the track.
Are we confirming this myth?
I can't believe it, but I think we are.
I think it's confirmed.
Moonshine, as good as gasoline.
Narrator: But, before you get your hopes up about moonshine,
Kari has some fuel for thought.
At this point, I feel like
People are gonna start trying to put moonshine in their car.
That's not necessarily a good idea.
Cars are not made to have alcohol running through them,
And we used so much moonshine compared to gasoline.
The gas mileage, not so good when you're using moonshine.
Might as well just keep it in your cabinet and drink it.
What are we doing back in the blueprint room?
I thought we'd wrapped?
Indeed we did, but we just got, hot off the presses,
Some news that may change
The origins of the story of the exploding still.
What?
Okay, I want you to cast your mind
Back to the days you were an illegal distiller.
If you knew the cops were coming, what would you do?
I'd get the heck out of there. Exactly!
Illegal distillers would try to remove
Any evidence of their illegal operation,
And they would do it in a way that we are very familiar with.
With explosives. Exactly.
So for a new finale for this myth,
We are going to use
Ye olde method of destroying the evidence --
We're gonna blow it all up.
[ piano music plays ]