For homebrewing enthusiasts, having a personal kegging setup is often considered the ultimate goal. The advantages of kegging over bottling are well-established, with significant reductions in cleaning time and oxidation risk being the most notable. Additionally, the sheer enjoyment and ‘cool’ factor of serving your own beer from a tap at home is an experience that shouldn’t be underestimated.
Once brewers decide to explore the world of kegging, they must choose how to keep their kegs cold and dispense from them. There are two main options: converting a regular fridge or freezer into a kegerator, or investing in a purpose-built system. We’ve tried both approaches, and while DIY kegerators have their perks, we ultimately chose a purpose-built kegerator for our outdoor kitchen, specifically KegLand’s Series X kegerator. After using it for over a year, we wanted to share our experiences with it so far.
History & Improvements
KegLand’s Series X kegerator, released in 2019, is the successor to the Series 4, which had been in production since around 2015. The Series X introduces several enhancements over its predecessor, including a 10% boost in power efficiency, 15% faster cooling, a 25% larger condenser, a larger evaporator, and thicker walls with increased foam density.
The re-engineered fan placement and airflow further enhance the cooling efficiency within the fridge. These improvements make the Series X particularly effective in hot climates. Additionally, it can now accommodate four Cornelius (corny) kegs, one more than the Series 4, without increasing the unit’s overall size.
The Series X also features side panels with an ‘orange peel’ finish, which helps conceal smudges and marks that were more noticeable and harder to remove on the matte black finish of the Series 4.
Features
The Series X kegerator comes with the following key features;
- 4 x castor wheels and bolts (2 front locking, 2 free spinning)
- Plastic CO2 cylinder holder
- Plastic drip tray
- Chrome plated guard rail with rubber locking feet
- Wire shelf
- Carbonation chart sticker
There are a number of different kits available if you're purchasing directly through KegLand, which include other things you may need - like a CO2 gas regulator, kegs, disconnects, fonts, taps etc.
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| Series X inclusions and accessories |
Castor wheels allow the Series X to be maneuvered around with ease. Once in place the front wheel locks can be engaged to prevent any further movement of the fridge. For us, the standard castor wheels were more than sufficient for moving the Series X on our tiled alfresco area, but if you need to move it over large bumps or uneven surfaces, some larger 100mm heavy duty castor wheels are available from KegLand as a separate purchase.
The plastic CO2 cylinder holder can be attached to the rear of the Series X but is only suitable for use with a 2.6kg CO2 cylinder. We managed to fit a larger 6kg CO2 tank in one of the cupboards next to the fridge, but the holder is a decent inclusion to help keep things neat and tidy, particularly if the Series X is not able to be concealed by cabinetry. Keep in mind the extra depth this will add to the installation space if you're planning to use the cylinder holder.
A black plastic wrap around drip tray is also included to help keep the surface under the taps mess free. The term "wrap around" just means there's a neat semi-circle cut out in the tray so it wraps neatly around the font. The plastic honeycomb style insert pops out so it's super quick and easy to clean.
The chrome plated guard rail can be fitted to the top of the kegerator to help prevent glasses or other things stored on top of the Series X from being accidentally knocked off. The holes for the guard rail are pre-provisioned on the top of the lid, just line up the feet of the guard rail and insert them into place.
The inclusion of a wire shelf allows for increased storage capacity for cans, bottles or other items in case you want to use the Series X like a regular fridge. We haven't used either of these in our particular setup but they're certainly worthwhile holding onto even if you don't have an immediate need to use them.
As we previously touched on, the Series X is now able to hold four corny kegs, compared to three in the previous Series 4 model, which is certainly a welcome improvement. This has been achieved by re-engineering the compressor location in the rear of the fridge from the left side (as it was in the Series 4) to the center. This allows for a 19L corny keg to sit neatly on either side of the compressor hump in the middle. The Series X was the first fridge of this size/footprint (ie. kegerator) to do this, and is now common practice among all other kegerator designs.
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| Centrally located compressor allows up to 4 corny kegs to fit |
Alternatively, the Series X can hold a single 50L keg like those commonly seen in bars/pubs.
There's also a fan inside in the fridge to help circulate cool air, along with a shroud-attached cooling hose that can be fed up into the font to help with cooling the font and beer lines within it. This fan has also been relocated from the left side to the middle in the Series X. As previously mentioned, the airflow path of the fan has also been re-engineered, so cold air is drawn in from behind the evaporator and then expelled in a slightly downward direction to circulate more air onto and over the kegs.
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| Centrally located fan with attached font cooling hose and larger evaporator |
The front of the fridge features a brushed steel door panel that is hinged on the right side. Above the door is a blue-lit digital display showing the set/current temperature of the fridge, along with an indicator icon for the fan status (on/off). This control unit also features the buttons for switching between Celsius and Fahrenheit temperatures, and up/down buttons to adjust the set temperature.
On the rear of the fridge, in addition to the CO2 cylinder holder (if fitted), there's two PCO1881 threaded male connections that allow carbonation caps to be fitted for running gas lines into the fridge, which is a really neat idea which we'll touch on again further in this review.
In terms of size, the Series X lies somewhere in between a full size fridge and a bar fridge. The actual dimensions are 600mm (W) x 650mm (D) x 840mm (H) without castors, or 890mm (H) with castor wheels fitted, but does not include the additional height of a guard rail or drip tray.
Internal dimensions can be seen (in mm) in the image below. In reality, with 4 kegs inside the fridge it's pretty tight, but there is sufficient space above them for attaching/removing quick disconnects, but you're not going to fit much else into the fridge if you're running 4 kegs.
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| Series X internal dimensions (mm) |
Lastly, a carbonation chart sticker has been included - we stuck ours on the inside door of the fridge and is a handy reference to have on hand to see what pressure you need to set on your CO2 regulator to get your desired carbonation level based on the temperature set for the fridge.
Tap/Font Options
Another consideration for your Series X configuration is how many taps are going to be featured, along with the colour and style. Although it can be argued these aren't part of the Series X directly, your kegerator isn't going to function well without them so it's worth discussing.
For those that aren't familiar, the font is the cylinder that the taps attach to, and act as a conduit between the taps and the kegerator itself that the beer lines are fed through. We opted for the Triple Tap Black Phantom Kit for the font, which features a black stainless font with 3 holes provisioned for tap attachment, and a gasket to be fitted between the font and kegerator (or whatever surface the font is attached to).
Attached to the font, we've gone with three of KegLand's forward-sealing black Nukatap's. This has given us an all-black setup which looks great in our outdoor kitchen and ties in nicely with the black built-in Weber Q barbeque as well.
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| Our black phantom triple tap font setup |
If you're after a more classic look, there are stainless steel options for fonts and taps as well.
Included in the KegLand font kits are pre-cut lengths of 4mm inner diameter (ID)/8mm outer diameter (OD) Evabarrier line for beer, and 5mm (ID)/8mm (OD) Evabarrier line for gas, though we'd recommend purchasing some additional 4mm/8mm Evabarrier line in case the included lengths aren't long enough - it's always handy to have some spare lying around and it's not particularly expensive either.
There's also three plastic tap handles, M5 stainless screws for securing the base of the font, three short shanks for attaching the taps to the font and a 7-in-1 assembly tool for fastening/unfastening various connections. Lastly, some Duotight fittings have also been included - two T-pieces for splitting your gas line three ways, and 6.5mm x 8mm slip on fittings to allow you to easily connect your beer lines to your shanks/taps.
Unless you're only ever planning on running a single 50L keg, we'd recommend going for at least a double tap option. You may think you'll only need to have a single keg going at a time, but once you get underway you'll inevitably want more! We're very happy with our triple tap, and find that by the time we've got a fourth keg ready to go, one of the other three has already run out.
Installation & Setup
There's a bit to consider when setting up and installing the Series X kegerator - and our advice is to set aside at least a couple of hours and make sure you've got all the components and tools you're going to need. Patience and an extra set of hands are probably a good idea too, especially when feeding lines from the fridge into the font.
We love the ease of KegLand's Duotight range of push in fittings and liquid/gas disconnects, so we'd definitely recommend using these as well. Another couple of must have bits of equipment are the 7-in-1 tool (included in the KegLand Font Kits) and a tube cutter.
Attaching Castor Wheels
First order of business is attaching the included castor wheels. After gently placing the Series X on it's side, we attached the castor wheels using the included screws after undoing the included feet. Make sure you put the wheels with the locking mechanism onto the front.
Since you'll need to put the fridge onto it's side in order to install the wheels, it's important you wait 24 hours after putting it upright again before plugging the power in. This is common advice for any refrigerator and is to allow any oil that has moved within the mechanical components to flow back to where it should be and prevent any issues that could arise from this.
Clearances
If you're planning on installing the Series X into an enclosed space, an often overlooked consideration is the clearances required around it. Since the condenser's are located in the left and right side walls of the fridge, a minimum of 100mm space is recommended on either side as well as the back to allow the fridge to operate efficiently. Failure to allow for this may void your warranty and lead to increased energy consumption and potentially a failure of the fridge cooling system.
Based off the previously stated dimensions (600mm (W) x 650mm (D)), you should be allowing a space at least 800mm (W) and 750mm (D) if installing the Series X into an enclosed area.
Gas Line(s)
Unlike converting a regular fridge into a kegerator where you may need to drill holes in the fridge body in order to feed gas line(s) in to connect to your keg(s), the Series X comes pre-provisioned with two entry points for exactly this. Not only are the holes already there, but they feature a regular soda bottle (PCO 1881) male thread that allows you to screw on a carbonation cap so a regular gas disconnect can be connected to it on the outside of the fridge from your gas bottle/regulator. On the inside, you can slip on a Duotight 6.5mm to 8mm reducer (KL07481) that your Evabarrier gas line can connect into.
We opted to use the carbonation caps and gas disconnects and fed separate lines to each side to allow for different pressures to be run into each (as we occasionally like to have the odd seltzer or cider available on-tap).
Font Installation
The Series X comes with mounting holes on the top of the unit for attaching the font, with a larger hole in the centre for feeding beer lines and the air cooling hose from the inside of the fridge up into the font where the taps attached to. If you don't wish to use this for whatever reason, there is a plastic cap that comes pre-installed to fill in this hole to prevent the cold air escaping .
We can't comment on the stability of a font attached directly to the Series X in this manner though, as we ended up attaching our font directly to the stone benchtop in our outdoor kitchen as you can see pictured below. As you could imagine, having the font attached to stone work makes it rock solid with absolutely zero movement during operation.
The font kit also comes with a foam piece inside which we kept in place to help insulate the font and keep it and the beer lines inside cooler. You may notice during particularly humid weather that the font will start to 'sweat' - you can get neoprene covers for the font to help further insulate it and prevent this, but it isn't something we've ever worried about.
Tap Installation
While the font installation is relatively straight forward, installing the taps onto the font is a little bit more involved. It's not necessarily difficult, but I'd say it's definitely quite fiddly. Fastening the short shanks in such a limited space, whilst being careful not to scratch the finish on the font means you need to be careful, and we ended up dropping one of the locking nuts at least once which delayed things while we had to fish it back out. We won't go through blow by blow on how best to do it, but we definitely leveraged the experience of those who have done it before us by watching a few YouTube videos which we'll link at the bottom of this review. It's commonly recommended to start with the lowest tap(s) first if you're using a 3 or 4 tap font, as it's nearly impossible to access the lower holes once the upper ones have the taps installed.
Once again, patience is key, and this is where a second pair of hands can come in handy to hold things in place and hopefully prevent things like the locking nut from dropping back down into the font/kegerator.
One thing is certain though, and that is the kit-included Duotight connectors to attach the Evabarrier beer line onto the short shanks makes life much easier and we'd strongly recommend using them. Having to deal with barbs and hose clamps in a tight space like the top of the font would be a nightmare.
Once the short shanks are fitted to the font, attaching the taps is very easy as they just screw into place. You can then use the notch on the 7-in-1 multi tool to fasten them up nice and tight, as pictured in the image above.
Balancing
Homebrewing forums and Facebook groups are often flooded with messages from new kegerator users who experience issues with pouring foam. While there's many different reasons why this can occur, one of the most common is not having a kegerator system that is balanced. Balancing a system essentially means having enough resistance in your beer lines. A lack of resistance will cause dissolved carbon dioxide (carbonation) rapidly coming out of solution and causing foaming to occur. Balancing a system is based on the length and internal diameter (ID) of the beer line, the serving pressure and serving (kegerator) temperature.
There's a bit to consider here, but we went with 2.5m lengths of 4mm ID Evabarrier line, running at around 14-15psi and get excellent results with this which should prove a decent starting point for anyone setting up their Series X for the first time. We'd recommend starting with at least 2.5m, or even as much as 3m of 4mm ID Evabarrier line. It's much easier to cut some off to reduce the line length than it is to increase it, so start long and cut it back down if you need to.
Operation & Performance
After running our Series X constantly in our outdoor kitchen over the last 12 months - we can certainly say that the performance has been rock solid, and it's seen extreme temperatures at both ends of the spectrum. During winter, temperatures drop to freezing or below overnight - not necessarily a big issue for an appliance whose main purpose is to keep things cold, but conversely during summer where day time temperatures can soar above 40°C the Series X has held it's own and managed to keep it's cool, so to speak.
The way the outdoor kitchen and Series X are oriented means that the front of the fridge does get some direct afternoon sun, and especially on those extra hot days we did see the temperature creep up on the Series X display by 1 or 2 degrees from the set temperature of 3/4°C. We never saw it rise any higher than this though. Keep in mind also that the temperature reading for the fridge is based on the air temperature inside the fridge. So while this may creep up a degree or two on particularly hot days, the kegs inside with the large thermal mass will be less susceptible to these fluctuations in temperature.
Sticking with temperature changes and one thing we have noticed is that opening the fridge door for more than a brief period of time to put something in or get something out will inevitably cause the fridge air temperature to rise and in turn trigger the compressor to turn on to try and cool it down. So, for example, when changing out kegs and the door remains open for a minute or two, you can expect the temperature reading to rise by a few degrees and the compressor to kick in and run for a brief period until the air temperature returns to the set temperature.
If you're planning on using the Series X inside your house, another consideration would definitely be the noise. It certainly seems to operate a little louder than a regular fridge, particularly when the compressor is engaged where an audible "click" can be heard (presumably from the relay). Since our Series X is outdoors, any noise it makes isn't a problem at all and the sounds dissipate rapidly. Indoors however where the ambient noise level is lower and the space is more enclosed, the sounds won't dissipate as quickly so may pose more of an issue.
Operating the control panel is pretty straight forward. By default the panel is child locked and can be unlocked by pressing and holding the Warmer button for 3 seconds. After being unlocked, the temperature can then be adjusted using the Cooler and Warmer buttons. Once set, don't press anything and after a few seconds the new value will be automatically saved, and the current temperature reading will be displayed.
The current temperature value is displayed by default at all other times and cannot be changed. The fan can be switched on or off by pressing the Fan button, and when running a blue fan icon is also visible on the right side of blue digital display. You'll also be able to hear the fan running in most cases as well, or you can just open the fridge and see for yourself.
We've left the fan running 24/7 since we installed our Series X. A small fan like this would consume negligible amounts of energy, and improve the cooling efficiency of the fridge. We also don't want the beer sitting in the beer lines in the font to get too warm either.
Serviceability & Replacement Parts
Certainly one of the benefits of a kegerator like the Series X is the availability of spare parts. This is something we've had first hand experience with since our Series X was damaged in transit with one of the corners of the plastic lid getting broken. We couldn't find the replacement part on the KegLand website at the time, but after reaching out to KegLand directly via email, they arranged the replacement part and shipped it to us.
There weren't any instructions for fitting the replacement part, but in this case it was easy enough to figure out what screws were holding it in, undoing them, then carefully removing the broken plastic lid, disconnecting the plug for the screen display/control panel and reversing the process to install the new one.
There's plenty of other spare parts available from the KegLand website - from the main circuit board, to relays, door seals, control circuit board, fan and even a replacement door. If you're after a particular part that you can't find on the website, it's certainly worth reaching out to KegLand anyway to see what they can do, but potential buyers can be confident that most common spare parts will be available and able to be serviced/repaired for most simple/common problems.
Warranty
Price
Manual
Final Thoughts
After over 12 months of constant use, we're very happy with our Series X kegerator and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to others looking at making the investment in a purpose-built kegerator. We've previously converted a regular fridge to a kegerator which was great (and we still have it in our garage) but we certainly prefer the sleek look and appeal of the Series X.
The Series X is proven to be able to withstand the harsh Australian climate - though it does struggle perhaps a little on those super hot days, especially if it sits in direct sunlight. Ensuring you leave sufficient space at the rear and sides of the fridge if you're enclosing it is imperative for efficient operation, and leaving the fan constantly running is probably a good idea too.
There's a raft of improvements over the previous Series 4 model, and potential buyers can also take comfort in the after sales support, and availability of spare parts from KegLand. It's nice to know that if a simple component breaks or fails, you're investment won't become useless and can in most cases be serviced or repaired.
So if you're in the market for a kegerator, it's well worth taking a look at the Series X and all the kit options available from KegLand and KegLand distributors.
YouTube Videos
Here are a couple of YouTube videos that we found useful when looking at the setup and installation of our Series X kegerator.
Although this video is for the Series 4, nearly all the information is still applicable and relevant for the Series X
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