Blooming and ice water bath???

When ever I hot smoke my sausage I leeave it in the smoker till the internal temp gets to 152F. I then either shower or put it in a ice bath to get it back down to about 120F as soon as possible. This prevents the sausage from getting all wrinkled and your casings should be nice and plump. It will now have a slight mahogany color, depending on your smoke. I then let it air dry about another 2-3 hours to finish out the bloom and you should be ready to go. Make sure you have some pink salt #1 in your cure for this process to be on the safe side.

Yep, what Wine country said. Cool down in ice water, then dry off and hang for a few hours to bloom. Proper amount of pink salt cure #1 / # of meat is very important.