Someone put vodka in my beer!

[wildtesla]

Brewed Jamil's Irish Red from Classic Styles. Used Wyeast 1084 and fermented between 65º-67º. I get a strong alcohol flavor (I am guessing this is fusel alcohols I have read so much about). Second time I have made this beer and I have gotten this flavor on both batches. It's not really hot but it does taste like someone dropped a little vodka in my glass while I wasn't looking. Any ideas of what this is and/or what could cause it?

Cheers!

[Hop]

http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter21-2.html

A sharp flavor that can be mild and pleasant or hot and bothersome. When an alcohol taste detracts from a beer's flavor it can usually be traced to one of two causes. The first problem is often too high a fermentation temperature. At temperatures above 80°F, yeast can produce too much of the higher weight fusel alcohols which have lower taste thresholds than ethanol. These alcohols taste harsh to the tongue, not as bad as cheap tequila, but bad nonetheless.

Fusel alcohols can be produced by excessive amounts of yeast, or when the yeast sits too long on the trub. This is one reason to move the beer off of the hot and cold break when the beer is going to be spending a lot of time in the fermentor.

What temperature to you start fermentation at? Maybe your thermometer is busted? Do you leave it in fermentation for a very long time? Do you pitch with far more yeast than you need to?