Little B

My family is getting into the spirits industry and i have been tasked specifically with vodka production. Im new to the spirits industry but i do have a degree in chemistry which i assume could benefit me in this industry and im sure will help me to understand some of the lingo that is used by you fellow alcohol connoisseurs. Now lets get to why I've started this thread. I've been doing research and what i have found is that the type of still needed and the type of starch source used is very important. Can anyone tell me the best type of still to be used to produce premium grade vodka and if its a column still, how many plates does it need to have? Grey Goose advertise that they distill there spirit 5 times; do they have a big column still with enough plates to only have to run it once to achieve the 5 distillations? Grey Goose uses winter wheat for there source of starch, is that the best to use? I know you can use potatoes, grapes and all sorts of other things. i was just wondering what the best to use is. If you have to actually re run each run then do you cut the heads and tails before pouring back into the still? last thing i couldn't understand was how a continuous running fermenter works? Again, Grey goose can have a batch ready every 30 ours with their fermenter system.