PBJ, PBC, PBX! 
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My personal experience has been there's a law of diminishing returns in play with large briskets. Larger briskets, again in my experience and not necessarily yours, seem to have a larger % of fat = waste of money. I once did a 14lb and 19lb and after they were trimmed and cooked & shrunk they both looked identical on the cutting boards before slicing. Of course much of that can be circumstantial and not a set rule. It took me a couple times doing large ones, and to me that's 18lbs+, to realize I hate large ones.
I digress. As surely others have mentioned above you can lose around 1/3 or more in trimming, and starting with ~1/2lb raw weight per person is the general norm if there's a mixed bag of eaters and appetites...but with tasty brisket being the star, and if there's lots of big eaters, you may be better off going near 1lb raw weight per person in my humble opinion. So an 18lb brisket might get you 10-12lbs meat after trimming/before cooking, and that's adequate for say 10-20 people. Better to have lotsa leftovers than run out obviously so estimate on the higher side.
Me, I would smoke it on the kettle if it fits. I fit a 14lber on my 22 on the indirect side with the SnS in use. I would think less tweaking and better fuel mileage on the kettle w/ the SnS, and a little tastier than on a pellet rig.Comment
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If you had a 24" WSM that would be my recommendation. Since you don't, a full packer won't easily fit on a WSM 18. Go with the pellet smoker. Don't worry about the "needs more smoke stuff" .... trim aggressively, dry brine for 24 hours, hit it with garlic powder and black pepper and then on to the pellet smoker. Plan your cook so that you will be able to hold that packer for 4 hours in a faux cambro or a low heat oven. Long holds at 170F make a huge difference to your outcome.
my huge write up on brisket, hopefully it helps
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The Searwood will make your life easier. In my search for more smoke on my Searwood I put the meat on cold, start the Searwood and smoke boost for about 45 minutes. Then I set it and forget it until the temp probe hits my target temp. Have fun.Comment
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I have decided to smoke the brisket with my Weber Smokey Mountain. It just holds temperature really well and I can curve it over some wood chunks to allow it to fit. I just did a cook with some pork and it worked like a champ.
I used my RFX and billows to get really consistent temperature so I can have some peace of mind as I dream of brisket overnight.
I guess the only question I have left is wood. How much and what kind with brisket?Comment
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I just wanted to let everyone know that I really enjoyed the suggestions I received. I used my 18" Weber Smokey Mountain and used some wood chunks under the brisket to prop it up and curve it. I also placed the brisket into the handles of the top grate so that it didn't touch the sides. There were suggestions I discovered by Harry Soo's YouTube video on brisket. The brisket shrunk and I eventually didn't need to wood to curve it anymore. I also needed my pellet grill for moink balls or I might have done brisket on it instead.
I want to make a special shout-out to ecowper as I followed his guidelines to the letter.
With my trusty ThermoWorks RFX and Billows, the wsm held 250 degrees for a really long time. I had a little scare at 5 am where one of my ambient probes began registering that the smoker was -58 degrees twice in that hour. I scrambled and switched out to another one and things got back on track. I'm amazed at how consistent the wsm can be with our without a thermostatic controller.
I know I should be posting this in the, 'show us what you're cooking' thread, but you guys helped so much that I thought I should personally thank you all here.
Here is the brisket when it first came off the smoker. It was probe tender like butter at 195 degrees. I did NOT use a texas crutch as I had plenty of time before the party thanks to the guidelines I was given.
I wrapped it tightly in aluminum foil and placed it in the oven at 170 degrees for five hours to rest. Then I placed it in this tub again so it could cool down to slice it at the party. Here it is right before slicing and shortly thereafter.
Look at all the juice and the beautiful smoke ring.
This turned out so awesome. The pull test went perfectly. It was so juicy. A lot more people showed up at the party and this brisket did not last long. Here are some comments I received for my first brisket cook ever!
"I worked in a bbq restaurant and this was a lot better than what we served there."
"This is the best brisket I have ever had."
"I'm so glad I trusted you with this brisket. You came through and it's so delicious."
These are just some of the comments I received in our group of around 26 for my friend's 4th of July party. Even my wife, who abhors fat, pulled a piece of the point and stated that it was so delicious!
I couldn't be more pleased how the brisket turned out. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. You guys made my fourth of July even more special.
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