I don't like the stock aeropress recipe. I too found it wasn't very consistent and sometimes gave wildly different results. I've found James Hoffman's aeropress technique to be fantastic though and much more repeatable--give it a shot: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j6VlT_jUVPc

The big difference with James' technique is that it spends more time immersion brewing, almost like a french press, vs the stock technique that's really rushing you to extract and then percolate with the push. I find the longer immersion brew is a lot more forgiving and repeatable as a technique.