HOW IT WORKS | Whisky, Toilets, Cream Cheese, High Voltage Workers | Episode 8 | Free Documentary

the show that reveals how extraordinary items in our world are designed constructed and produced see the engineering the technology and big ideas that make the world go round find out how it works [Music] coming up producing scotch whiskey why it takes over a decade to make everyone's favorite medicine from curdled milk to delicious spread find out how cream cheese gets from the farm to the fridge and making toilets it may not be the most comfortable seat in the house but it's definitely the most important but first one of the most dangerous jobs in the world working on high voltage cables is a risky business the people who do it a-hunting cables that carry three hundred and forty five thousand volts whilst strapped to a helicopter they can't just wear jeans and a t-shirt when they're doing this job all of their clothes are lined with a special metal mesh right down to the socks here's how it works electricity flows along the easiest path as metal has a much lower resistance than flesh and bone the electricity is conducted safely around a body rather than through it here in America most of the jobs are done with a repairman strapped onto a platform which is welded to a helicopter they edge up to the power lines which are attached to the tower since the helicopter is only touching the cable the electricity flows round it in a loop and doesn't build up in any one place here he's changing an isolator that stopped the electricity flowing down the supporting Pole [Music] [Music] the repairman obviously needs to have a pair of steady hands and so does the pilot helicopters are notoriously hard to fly even without someone hanging off the edge if it were to lose control now it would almost certainly be the end of both of them to ease the pilots load a member of the crew remains on the ground to coordinate everything truck 12 to alpha whiskey you've been out 40 minutes the less the pilot has to think about what he's hovering the better with some jobs taking hours it can mean several refueling trips because of the platform attached to the helicopter they can't fill the tank all the way up or the total weight would upset the balance and the pilots wouldn't be able to keep the helicopter steady [Music] if a jobs next to a pylon then the helicopter has to drop the repairman off and leave him to make his own way not only does he need the courage of a firefighter now he also needs the skills of a tightrope walker if you're scared of heights then there is definitely no need to apply for this job [Music] the electricity and winds make the lines vibrate which can cause the bolts to loosen over time this means that they have to be serviced and occasionally replaced by hand when another exhausting job complete he can shuffle back down the line to a place where it's safe to be picked up as if that job wasn't tough enough here he's only got two lines to move along [Music] [Music] this is an unbelievably dangerous job and most people wouldn't do it for all the money in the world but for the power companies it's well worth the hefty pay packets they hand out at the end of the month these guys save them about sixteen million dollars a day back on the relative safety of the platform suspended beneath the helicopter the repairman can head back to base to put his feet up knowing that his heroics have kept power flowing to thousands of homes [Music] the average person will spend three whole years of their life on the loo this is the story of how a factory makes the most essential piece of furniture in your house a mold for the toilets is made inside this casing they pour in a liquid compound that contains gypsum it's a natural mineral that soaks up moisture this will draw water out of the clay bowls so they'll dry quicker later on the mold is made in four parts which set in just 20 minutes the gypsum can only draw out a certain amount of water before it's saturated so these molds can only be used to make about a hundred toilets each [Music] the ceramic for the toilets is mostly made out of clay but a mixture of other natural minerals has been added to provide strength it's all mixed together with water in a cauldron these vibrating machines get rid of any lumps and then after a quick check to make sure the liquid is at the right consistency it's ready to be poured into the gypsum molds [Music] one hour later a quick blast from a pressure hose opens them up the excess is cut away and will go off to be recycled the toilet chute is added by hand and then blend it in using a wet sponge the result is a fine sculpture with sweeping curves that would grace any bathroom [Music] while it's still soft they cut out the drainage hole [Music] after that it's given a quick wipe and then left to dry on a rack overnight the next morning it's dry but it's still very absorbent so they coat it with a glaze of powdered glass chalk and water this will form a waterproof layer when it's fired the glazing on the outside of the toilets is sprayed on when the factory is busy the extra workload is done by hand but most of the time it's all done by robots either way the end result is the same the toilet is still brittle so in the final stage it's baked in a kiln and this is one seriously big kiln it's 120 meters long with three separate zones in the first zone it's gently warmed up too much heat too soon would distort the clay then in the second it can be blasted with 1,200 degrees Celsius which turns it rock solid as they pass through the final zone of the kiln the toilets are cooled down and then they're finished the bowls are ready to be fitted with seats and plumbed into bathrooms across the country on average we pay about two and a half thousand visits to one every year despite the fact that humble loo is used so often it's seldom appreciated [Music] coming up after the break the oldest operating distillery in the scottish highlands how a blazing barrel gives scotch its unique flavor and cream cheese our factory makes a not so creamy variety for Weight Watchers [Music] [Music] no drinks cabinet would be complete without a fine bottle of scotch whiskey we're better to see it being made than the Scottish Highlands this is the straw filer distillery in Keith the main ingredient is barley it's harvested and then taken to the distillery the first step is malting the Bolly soaked in water for three to five days during this time starches turn into sugars then it's dried over burning peat and the smoke adds flavor to the whisky once the valleys been malted this machine grinds it down to a coarse flour this huge VAT is called the mash tun it's used to mix the ground flour with hot water some yeast is added and the mix dots to turn into alcohol it's transferred to these giant copper distillery kettles and heated to 86 degrees Celsius the alcohol evaporates and travels up these pipes where it cools down and becomes a liquid again after around half an hour of this process the fluid coming out has reached between 20 and 40 percent alcohol this is called low wine the low wine goes through the process again in a second kettle and what comes out then is seriously strong between 60 and 70 percent alcohol this will be barreled and turned into whiskey Scotch is a serious business in Scotland by law distilleries can only store whiskey in barrels made of oak new barrels would give the whiskey too much of a woody flavor so they recycle old ones which are fixed up by a team of Coopers these old barrels could have been previously used for bourbon sherry or even another whiskey as well as providing a less woody flavor they also impart a subtle character from their previous contents first the iron hoops are removed the Thompson opt-out the wood is shaved and finally the hoops are tightened and replaced then the barrels suffer trial by fire [Music] the worker pops a cover on to cut off the supply of oxygen otherwise the barrel would burn to a cinder instead of just getting toasted a thin layer of charcoal has formed on the inside which will add flavor and color to the whiskey as it slowly matures the cask is covered again this time to steal in the smoke and enhance the flavor [Music] the barrels boarded up and is ready to be filled each barrel holds over 250 liters once the stopper is bashed into place the whiskey won't see the light of day for many years it stacked among hundreds of other barrels in a darkened warehouse to be classified as scotch the whiskey has to mature for at least three years but top single malts are left for much longer ours won't come out for another 12 years over that time alcohol gradually evaporates through the oak barrel reducing the alcohol content from over 60% to around 40 he is one they made earlier the master taster tries a sample to check it's ready just a nod from him and it's off for bottling after over a decade in the making the bottle plant is the last stage before the whiskey can hit the shelves distilleries like this one are vital to the UK's economy the annual export of Scotch is worth over two billion pounds [Music] from just barley water and yeast to fine scotch whiskey it goes to show that the simple things in life really can be the best would you spread sour milk on your bread you might not think so but that's actually what cream cheese is it's not as popular as cheddar in the UK but it's catching on fast at this German factory they process 450,000 litres of milk a day but before it can be turned into cream cheese it's got to be cooled down next it's separated into skimmed milk and cream these are then blended back together in varying quantities to give cream cheeses with a range of different fat contents the dairy mix needs to be pasteurized it's heated for 20 seconds at 73 degrees to kill off any germs then lactic acid is added when the mixture is heated the lactic acid spreads through the milk making it thicker and turning it sour it's then poured into a separator to remove the excess liquid which is called whey if you remember Little Miss Muffet you might be able to guess that what's left behind is the curd this is what the cheese will be made out of but it needs a little salt or a little bucket of salt then it's heated again just in case any germs made it through when you think of cream cheese smoked salmon and a bagel might come to mind but this Factory caters for a wide range of tastes this cream cheese is going to be mixed with dried onions and chives if you've got a date and evening you might want to think twice about having this for lunch cream cheese is different from other cheeses it's not allowed time to mature as it's meant to be eaten fresh despite its popularity in Europe it was actually invented in the United States in 1872 a New York farmer developed a Richard cheese than ever before and this became known as cream cheese the final step is to whip up the cheese with some nitrogen gas this helps to increase its volume and makes it easier to spread the tubs are made out of the plastic on these two rolls it's heated and that a machine punches it into shape next each part gets a perfect portion that includes the weight watcher variety [Music] they're sealed chilled for 12 hours and then ready to hit the supermarkets [Music] you

Channel: Free Documentary

Views: 2,019,955

Rating: 4.7285066 out of 5

Keywords: How it works, How its made, Whisky how it works, Toilets, High Voltage Workers, How it works episode, How It's Made (TV Program), How it works Full Episode, Whisky (Distilled Spirit Type), Toilet Paper (Product Category), High Voltage, Cream Cheese (Cheese), Episode (Award Discipline)

Id: m8VdSCP0ohk

Length: 23min 50sec (1430 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 16 2014