The goal is a balanced rig
I think you should define what you mean by 'balanced rig' as there are a few different perceptions of that term. Some people use it to simply describe a set up that you can swim to the surface with no air in the BC, and some use it to describe a weighting strategy in which weight is split up between your body and the BC, so that if you removed the BC underwater, you wouldn't rocket to the surface while your BC plunged to the bottom. I tend to think of it as the latter of those two, because it means you have to balance weight between yourself and your BC. In terms of being able to swim your rig to the surface, in cold water with a thick wetsuit, generally speaking that means you will need some ditch-able weight. Traditionally that would be on a belt or weight harness, separate from the BC. Putting 30 lbs of weight in BC pockets is a recipe for disaster IMO. I personally don't like the idea of quick release weight pockets to begin with, and this is the hogarthian forum, so you want to emphasize simplicity and function in your approach to gear.
Just from reading your posts, one thing that comes to my mind is that you are probably way overweighted. Unfortunately many recreational agency scuba instructors load on the weight for their students. It's bad teaching, plain and simple, and it's done to just save time and get everyone in the class under.
So your first step would be to get an idea of how much weight you actually need, and there is one way to get that; a proper weight check. Once you get an accurate idea of how much ballast you need, you can figure out a plan. In cold water and AL tanks, a steel plate is a no-brainer. Forget the STA. If you need more weight on the plate you could hunt around for a used deep sea supply plate with the added weight plates. Those were fantastic for cold water divers.
Lets say for the sake of argument that you have a steel plate with an AL tank. They more-or-less cancel each other out in terms of ballast (maybe 2-3 lbs net negative once you figure in the regulator) and you determine that your wetsuit needs 15 lbs to sink. (You can check that by putting your wetsuit in a mesh bag, tossing it in a pool, and adding lead weights until it stays under) So you come up with needing around 12-14 lbs of lead as a starting point, and at that point I would put two 3 lb weights in camband pockets, and two 4lb weights on a belt and give that a try. If you're a little top heavy, replace the 3lb weights with 2lb, then if you can't stay down try adding another weight to the belt.
The benefit with a system like that is that it's very simple, you don't have worry about quick release pockets dropping unexpectedly and sending you on an 'emergency blow' ride to the surface. (It happens more often that you would think) You can take the rig off and the wing will float it on the surface, and in the rare event of a total loss in buoyancy, you can drop the belt.
Sorry for the long post, hopefully it's somewhat helpful.