My first brew and the importance of temperature control

I decided to grab a bottle of my Amber Ale last night to see how it is coming along. It's been in the bottles nearly 3 weeks now and should be fully carbonated. I poured it into a glass, leaving the dredges behind. Still quite hazy, good head, nice carbonation. Looks like an amber ale, smells like an amber ale, does it taste like an amber ale? No, no it doesn't. After the first sip, I noted right away that the harsh alcohol taste was gone. I then noted that it tasted like someone dumped a whole crate of strawberries in it. Maybe a few bananas too. That might work for a hefeweizen, but that's no good for an amber.

I know where I went wrong here. It was just too warm. Being new to this, I didn't realize that the fermentation process would boost temps by 2-4 degrees. So while it was sitting in the low 70's, it pushed itself well above 75 for the bulk of the ferment. It and the Irish stout were the worst off, but the beers that follow have been far more closely monitored for temp.

I already picked up a temperature controller and will be grabbing a small chest freezer in the near future. That will allow me to keep a steady temperature and avoid this in the future. It also have the advantage of allowing me to lager. I'm looking forward to doing an Oktoberfest.