Heat Exchanger backflush and cleaning

[Seangoloid]

Hey there, just had a quick question regarding backflushing our heat exchanger after a brew day. Would it be better to backflush after the last knockout of the day, then run a cleaning loop (PBW), OR would it be best to run the cleaning loop after the last knockout, then backflush/rinse?
I know there are those who backflush after every knockout... not our gig.
I'm thinking that the PBW would help break up everything a little better, resulting in a more efficient removal of any trub/hop material. Keeping with trying to use as little water as possible, we don't want to backflush both before and after our PBW cycle.
This is only for our end of the brew-day cleaning. We have a much more thorough regimen for the end of the week.

Thoughts?

[kai]

We brew twice in a day, and at the end of every brew day run a caustic cleaning loop in reverse.

When rinsing out that caustic, running the rinse as fast as possible (effectively a backflush) dislodges all the crap the cleaning process has lifted but not removed.

So yeah... a reverse loop clean and then a combined rinse and backflush. I've followed a few different procedures before, and this is my pick.

What's your end-of-week regimen?

[jk_brewer]

I backflush and then run a CIP on the HX along with whatever FV needs it. I do this after every batch. The backflush before the CIP helps to remove anything that might have made it in the HX and keeps it out of cleaning solutions.

[GlacierBrewing]

I run a backflush PBW,Acid 5, StarSan cycle after ever knockout. We brew once a day. I leave the HX packed with the StarSan until the next knockout.
This has worked for me for years and years (knock on stainless ).

Prost!
Dave

[Seangoloid]

Kai - For the end of the week, we are doing a backflush after the last knockout, warm acid cycle, backflush/rinse, hot caustic cycle, backflush/rinse, then SaniClean cycle, leaving heat ex packed with sani for the weekend.
I'm starting to think we'd have better results omitting the rinse between the acid and caustic cycles... however this regimen has been working great. Every time we pull the heat exchanger apart (monthly) it's pretty damn clean... maybe a few bits of hop material here and there.
I'm really just trying to figure out where we can save water and chemical without compromising the quality of our cleaning processes.