Hey all, just found this thread and I wanted to answer some questions that have been raised here.
First, we are based in Chicago, actually a suburb west of the city. If anyone is in the area and wants to stop by you're more than welcome, just drop me a line so I know to expect you. Our address is on the contact us page.
On the fermenter itself, there are other designs like it, yes. Ours is unique in that it has a thermowell included, we designed the lid to allow for pressure transfers, and will have a pressure transfer kit on our site soon.
We market the bottom port as a clean out port but I, and others, have successfully dumped yeast through it. The 3/4" size is going to be a limitation for heavily dry hopped beers or if the yeast cake gets overly compacted during a cold crash. The best point for dumping is when the yeast starts to settle and flocc out. I will say that it makes cleaning it out very easy, just point and spray a hose down into it.
We are designing a 14 gallon version at the moment and then we will look at the feedback on the 8 gallon and decide if changes need to be made.
Feedback has been positive so far but I am open to any and all opinions/questions.
Mike