Well, yes, but for clarity sake, we should point out that this is an unrelated independent issue.
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My first few beers were pitched at much higher (in the eighties!) and fermented in the mid seventies (room temperature was 68 and fermenter was mid 70s). The beers came out good but they would have come out better if I had done it right the first time. (They *did* have the off flavors you describe but they were by no means undrinkable.) Beer is forgiving. Take lots of notes and learn from mistakes but don't sweat getting everything right at once.
To maintain temperature control, you can/should buy a "fermometer", an adhesive thermometer strip that when stuck to the fermentor will indicate your batch temperature. (Because batch temperature is 5 to ten degrees higher than room temperature.) Fermenting at too high does lead to off flavors. But, again this is completely unrelated to measuring gravity. Take notes and isolate your problems one by one.
Also, even if you *do* discover you utterly screwed up one aspect of your procedure, beer is forgiving and you will have beer of some form. That's why I said *I* wouldn't worry *too* much about it *yet*. But maybe that was misleading advice on my part. [edit: No maybe. It *was* misleading advice. I didn't want to burden the OP with extra unsolicited advice unrelated to the original question being asked. But I shouldn't have dismissed and downplayed the secondary issue when it arose on it's own accord.] Maybe I should have said, try to do the best you can and try to get as much right the first time but don't knock yourself out or get overwhelmed trying to do everything perfectly the first time.
And don't get fuddled by too many concepts and technicalities all at once.
(And don't let your cat pee in your fermenter.)