Setting and cooling
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What happens in the twenty minutes after pouring decides whether the batch grains.
Fast, but not shocked
Cooling quickly keeps crystals small, which is the whole prevention for graining and much of it for bloom.
But a violent chill can contract the stick hard enough to squeeze oil out, so a freezer is a step too far for most formulas.
A cool room or a cold surface is usually right. Which end of that range suits your formula is worth two test rows rather than a guess.
Where to put them
Somewhere cool, level and out of a draft that only reaches half the tray.
Uneven cooling across a tray gives you a batch where one corner grains and the rest does not, which is a maddening thing to diagnose later.
Not in sunlight, which both warms unevenly and starts oxidation on the exposed surface.
Do not move them early
A tube that looks set on top can be liquid inside. Carried to a bench, it slumps and sets crooked.
Leave the tray alone until the sticks are firm through, then cap.
How long before you judge it
Hardness and feel: next day, at room temperature.
Graining: a week, minimum, and two is safer. This is the wait that makes small test pours worth the trouble, because a new butter or a new supplier lot that grains will show here rather than in a customer's pocket.
Flavor: a week, from a capped tube.