@kgramke Once you are done with the stuffing process, you will want to proceed directly into your cooking and smoking process. You do not want to intentionally hold the product and delay cooking when using encapsulated citric acid. As soon as you can after you’re done stuffing, begin getting them ready to start cooking/smoking.

Austin is right. Ice bath until temp is below 100 or even cooler 9 to 20 min. Hang in the refrigerator to allow to completely cool. Try adding water to your smoker as well it might be way to dry this should help with smoke pen as well. Make sure you soak your cases before you syuff this will help with air pockets and case capacity ( the moist case will aid with a better case fill). Turn the top of the case a few times to squeeze out the air and seal with a hog ring don’t tie off.