I seem to keep a tight short line when I inflate. I usually do it about 25 ft, as the inertia to launch a large burst of air will pull me up a few feet.
The momentum to move me allows almost 1/2 of the sausage to fill, and I winch myself up slightly negative. Then fill rest of tube from below the water. If you want the sausage to stand straight up, dump more air out. But no so much that you would sink. I think this works best for the larger sausages.
I fill my tube from the bottom with my octo. The SMB has 40 lbs of lift, so when I stupidly did not pay attention to the line off my spool, I shot up like a rocket. When I do it at depth, I can get enough air into it to get it fairly filled. When it reached the surface, it's mostly filled. The lead weights at the bottom and my tension on the line that keeps it upright on the surface.
I noticed the DM's in Cozumel only put a breath in their DSMB to send it to the surface. When the dives at the surface are picked up, they pull it back down.