Wow I need to watch what I post about
but seriously, this has always been my pursuit along with bourbon and rum.
I visualize the fractions in a reflux still of whatever kind as being stacked. The goal for snowflake vodka is to reflux it long enough to get most of the heads in the whole boiler to the top of the column. I usually wait 2 hours at full reflux. The to not disturb the fractions anymore than needed, pull the heads off really slow. 1 to 2 drops a second is about right regardless of the column size.
Now the trick. Since the parts of the heads that are going to show up in diluted vodka are hard to detect in high proof, you need to water it down to smell and taste. Even foreshots can be diluted just remember to spit. Once you get past the heads you will know it. All of a sudden there is no smell other than ethanol, an the taste is slightly citrus like with no aftertaste, and for experienced alcohol drinkers, no burn at all at 40%.
You can speed it up a bit once you get to the hearts. I know a few haven't cared about the reflux ratio but this is a handy thing to know in order to not have to keep fiddling with your setup. First of all you have to know what your max throughput is with no reflux, without flooding the column. Usually you want to run the power to the point where the temp is just over the neutral temperature with no reflux. 3 to 4 degrees c should be sufficient. Collect a fixed amount and measure the time if you have a column that is capable of operating in this mode. Once you know this rate it is easier to set the constant rate for the hearts.
Generally 95% drips with 20 drops per ml (correct me if you know better) so if you collect 10 ml/minute that is 200 drops. This is pretty slow which is .6L/hour but this is an example. You have to measure your own rates.
If you reflux 100% then you are returning 10 ml/minute to the column. The best stuff I make is usually refluxed at 9:1 for every 9 ml refluxed you collect 1 ml. or 20 drops / minute. There is no need for a higher percentage because you don't gain much ground for the lost of time.
If you know with some but of accuracy what your starting volume and percent alcohol were, you can calculate when you are 80% finished. This is a good time to start looking for tails. Tails show up when you start tasting the original flavor of your wash or any other off flavor. Yes it is handy to know what your wash tastes like and that is the first hint of tails.
The average pot still running at about 2500 watts makes about 4L /hour. So if your column is making 400 ml an hour with 2500 watts you are in the ballpark. Of course this would be a hard thing to have to tend if you have a finicky column like a tall thin one or one which changes drastically with the slightest breeze. Insulation on the boiler and column help finicky columns.
Now lets talk about practicality. I have stripped enough to fill my 58 L boiler with 54 L of 45%.
This is the equivalent of 27L at 95%. so lets say we take 2 hours for stacking the fractions. another hour for removing heads. collecting 20L of hearts at .5L/hour. and running out the tails if you choose to for rerunning. his is a 50 hour run.
and 20L(5 gallons) of neutral. I hope you have a lot of thirsty mates. This is 66 750ml bottles of 40%. need I say this isn't very practical. So start small with just enough to operate and learn the feel. A 5L 45% will get you 5 or 6 bottles, and only take a while to run. You will stack heads for 2 hours run heads for another 20 minutes and collect hearts for 4 hours. This is more practical. Just make sure your element is on the very bottom of your boiler if you have internal electric heat.