Two ways to corn a brisket that I know of. (probably a ton more out there)
Basically, you figure out how much water you need to cover your chunk of meat, then boil the water with a LOT of salt to make a brine that will float a fresh egg. (that's about 1lb salt for 2 gallons water). adding anything else to the boiling water that you want as seasoning EXCEPT the peppercorns. like..pickling spices, sugar, bay leaves, etc. Cool water. submerge the brisket in a crock or something with the water covering it. Set in fridge for a week. (VERY similar to sauerbraten...except it's vinegar not brine)
The two types I do are a simple one with just salt, peppercorns, and bayleaf. The second one uses pickling spices, thyme, garlic, brown sugar, juniper berries. The first gives a simple taste, which you can dress up or down. The second one is what most people are used to with Irish Corned beef and cabbage...very spicey, sweet.
After brining, it can be vacuum packed in the fridge, or the freezer or canned. Generally I just thaw a roast or brisket, do the brine thing for 7 days, and then do a boiled dinner
If you plan on preserving, you can just pressure can the pieces using the brine solution. no need to let it set in the fridge for days. The pressure cooker will infuse the meat with the goodies.
let's see....recipe:
2 lbs salt
4 gallons water
1 lb brown sugar
6 bay leaves
1/3 cup pickling spices (usually mustard seed, whole cloves, dill, cinnamon, mace, allspice, juniper berries)
10+ crushed peppercorns (freshly crushed)
4 cloves garlic (crushed)
handful of fresh thyme (or 1 tsp dried)
boil everyting but the pepper. Add pepper after boiling. (boiling does strange things to pepper).
That's about it. cool it down. put in the meat. Weight the meat down so it stays under the water. forget about it for a couple of days. Turn it over. Forget it again. turn it again. After 7 days you're good to go