Funny enough I saw a documentary on making spiced beef , alongside the Documentary on Beamish.
Use a HDPE tub , Fill it with water and salt it until you get it so that a clean potatoe will float , If the potatoe sinks it needs more salt .
Take your piece of beef and pirce it through in several spots with a knife ,
Dump it into the salted water and leave for 1 1/2 weeks in the fridge .
The beef should be corned fully through by then . Spice it with your selection of spices , get loads on and dump your salty water , put your spiced beef back into it's container and back in the fridge for three days to dry out a bit . Spice again and vacuum seal ready for cooking .
Personally I reckon the choice of spices is the big secret , Your local Wurst meister might have some suggestions for a good spice mix .
I'm thinking of doing my own this year too , for the laugh like .
Edit : Just thinking about this now the pickling water might need some sugar in it too . The guy didn't mention it in the doc , but It's what I always understood corning to be , salt and sugar , or vinegar and sugar