Is this the mod with the added shim?

Gemilai CRM 3605.

Stock setup the cons as below:
1. Thermoblock system might not able to keep the temperature stable.
2. Weak steam.
3. OPV not set to 9 bar and release the excess water flow to drip tray. In fact, safety valve would not open at 15 bar which is the max pressure generated by ULKA pump.
4. Flow rate too high. Recommendation is around 200-280ml / 30 seconds. I measure around 360-400ml / 30 second. Indirectly causing the pressure too high.
5. Single thermoblock machine. Can't brew and steam at the same time. If you only make a cup each time, then it's not a big issue. Only take less than 10 seconds heat up to steam temperature. If you want to brew second cup, just purge hot water from steam wand for 5s and temp will drop to brew temperature.

How to overcome the issue.

By heating up the water in the tank to 50 degree celcius (get this idea from Decent Espresso machine), I manage to solve issue 1 and 2. No more sourness in espresso and steam is more powerful and dryer. I heat up the water tank by running hot water from the steam wand for 30 second, then pour the hot water back into the water tank. Do this 3 times and it should be around 50 degree celcius (only when the tank is full).
As for pressure and flow rate, I install a solid state variable resistor to control the pump. Doing this I manage to control the pressure for pre infusion and ramp up the pressure to 9 bar when I see first drip of espresso from the bottom of the naked portafilter. By using lower pressure during pre infusion and let the puck fully saturated will reduce channeling issue.

Overall, I'm quite happy with the machine performance after mod. Temp control with PID and using standard 58mm portafilter, you can get lots of accessories for the machine. Also build in pressure gauge and brew timer (user changeable) which make it quite a good entry level machine.

PID was not in the stock machine right?

I'm using kf6001 and was searching for an succesor.

this Gemilai CRM3605 seems fit my budget.

Is there any online tutorial to follow for the DIYs you do?

Hi everyone, I would like to know whether you have any recommendation for Coffee Maker (as in drips). I tried searching for the Bonavita BV1900TS in Malaysia but doesn't seem to have any local sellers.

Am currently using Aeropress only, but sometimes when I just need a big serving of a few cups, I would prefer a drip machine to help me out. Thanks.

I am looking for an AeroPress. Is anyone selling AeroPress here? The ones on Shopee and Lazada aren't original.

Guys,

Any idea if there's any Baratza service center in Malaysia? My Sette went dead yesterday morning in the middle of a grind. Checked both the fuse on the cable and the power supply board already.

I've emailed Pulp since they are a distributor. Any help will be appreciated. Now using my backup hario manual grinder sigh.

You're based in KL?

Guys,

Any idea if there's any Baratza service center in Malaysia? My Sette went dead yesterday morning in the middle of a grind. Checked both the fuse on the cable and the power supply board already.

I've emailed Pulp since they are a distributor. Any help will be appreciated. Now using my backup hario manual grinder sigh.

PULP or now called PPP Coffee is the official distributor in Malaysia

I got the Burr holder for my encore from them 5 years ago.

Try email techmy@pppcoffee.com . I tried 4 days ago, i want to buy more burr holder but no reply.

I think MCO not working

Good luck . 

I am also a coffee lover here, but I don't know how to blend good coffee out of machine..I just only drink at the restaurant especially in Ipoh old town.    Or sometime buy some package / sachet from supermarket..
i have tasted some local white coffee, like old town white coffee, chek hup,ah huat and etc...
As for international brands like Espresso and Arrissto, they do cost much higher price due to their arabica bean (imported from oversea)
In Malaysia, there is another brand of coffee called BMS organics vision coffee, it's not only cater for coffee lover but also help in boosting or maintaining our eye condition. It has ingredients like lutein, zeaxanthin and blueberry..
And yet it has its unique taste and good aroma. 

If you want to try this out,  check out this page 
BMS organics Vision white coffee  https://www.bmsorganics.com/products/bms-organics-vision-white-coffee-30g-x-10-sachets
note: the meaning 3 in 1 has sugar ingredient, whereas 2 in 1 has no sugar.. Above item has unrefined sugar ingredient

CRM3605 is using PID stock. No mod needed on the temperature sensor unlike some other machine which is using analog thermostat. You just need to pre heat the water tank to around 50 degree celcius so that the thermoblock have more headroom to stabilize the temperature during brewing. Another advantage is more powerful steam when steaming milk.

The only mod you need to do is the pump. If you unscrew the bottom, you will see the connection for the pump. You just need to unplug the wire from the circuit board to the pump, tap the pump to the 500w dimmer switch or solid state regulator. I'm using solid state regulator with 100k ohm potentiometer. When brewing, turn the knob almost to the minimum. As I'm using bottomless portafilter, the pre-infusion take around 10 seconds and will saturate the puck. Turn the knob to increase the flow while watching the pressure gauge. Once it reach 9 bar, stop there and continue to extract. You can play around with the pressure during brewing process. One of my favourite method is to slowly ramp down the pressure to around 6 bar before reaching my desire extraction weight.

PS: Ignore the red switch. Previously use the red switch to manually switch on the heater for old Poemia espresso machine. Not use in Gemilai. The potentiometer come with the solid state regulator resistance is too high and at minimum will stall the pump.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1pc-KYOTTO-AC-Soli...oUAAOxyqUpQ9Lgb
https://www.ebay.com/itm/B100K-Ohm-3-Termin...bsAAOSwzaJX90kz

Kinda technical for me.

Anyhows I've replicated your method of dumping hot water back into the water tank for my current machine....

Somehow the shots were quite good and tasted less sour than usual.

Yeah. Hot water increase the stability of the brew water temp. Sourness could be due to temp drop during brewing.

CRM3605 is using PID stock. No mod needed on the temperature sensor unlike some other machine which is using analog thermostat. You just need to pre heat the water tank to around 50 degree celcius so that the thermoblock have more headroom to stabilize the temperature during brewing. Another advantage is more powerful steam when steaming milk.

The only mod you need to do is the pump. If you unscrew the bottom, you will see the connection for the pump. You just need to unplug the wire from the circuit board to the pump, tap the pump to the 500w dimmer switch or solid state regulator. I'm using solid state regulator with 100k ohm potentiometer. When brewing, turn the knob almost to the minimum. As I'm using bottomless portafilter, the pre-infusion take around 10 seconds and will saturate the puck. Turn the knob to increase the flow while watching the pressure gauge. Once it reach 9 bar, stop there and continue to extract. You can play around with the pressure during brewing process. One of my favourite method is to slowly ramp down the pressure to around 6 bar before reaching my desire extraction weight.

PS: Ignore the red switch. Previously use the red switch to manually switch on the heater for old Poemia espresso machine. Not use in Gemilai. The potentiometer come with the solid state regulator resistance is too high and at minimum will stall the pump.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1pc-KYOTTO-AC-Soli...oUAAOxyqUpQ9Lgb
https://www.ebay.com/itm/B100K-Ohm-3-Termin...bsAAOSwzaJX90kz

is this single or dual thermoblock? if single dunno if the gaggia trick of switching on steam for a few seconds just before starting or halfway through the pull works to stabilize the temp...

The machine is single thermoblock with PID. Gaggia is using boiler with thermostat so I'm not sure if this would work.

should work if the machine doesn't lock it out...

premise being... "I gonna start the pump, temp will drop, I better manually add heat now..." as opposed to waiting for actual drop for the thermocouple to kick in... earlier heat to the coil can prevent the drop at the tail end...

usually the thermocouple is located for bulk thermoblock sensing...if this is the case, can try relocating to the inlet pipe area since temp here drops first, so you get faster sensing

alternatively... can use your switch and some resistance circuit to trick the pid into adding heat...