Thanks for the info. I tried your suggestion of the ice bath, it worked great. Being Montana, I just had to reach outside for some snow to add to the water! Thanks again, most appreciated.

Greetings from beautiful downtown middle of nowhere Montana. I’m John, new to the site but still an old guy. We live where we’re fortunate enough to have Whitetails, Muleys and the occasional Elk trespass through our property, although the Elk never seem to be there during season. Smart Elk. I built a smoker from an old freezer, we do turkeys, jerkys, and whatever else needs a good smokin’. We’ve made a few batches of pepperoni from my son’s Muley, some came out better than others. The last batch we made experienced some post-smoking shrinkage problems I thought you folks might have experienced yourselves. We used the 16mm smoke collagen casings, which we really like, glad I found 'em. I smoke them for about 6 hours, then finish them in the oven to make sure they get to 160 degrees. After a day or two, the casings became loose and you could peel them off real easy. They tasted fine, but lost a lot of their appeal. I filled them as tight as they’d go. I do like quite a bit of fat in them, I usually about 25% fat. Maybe too much fat? Not cooling them off in a bath? I put them in baggies and then in the frig. Any suggestions? Your expert advice is much appreciated. Thanks, loose and sloppy in Montana.