Vinegar with no mother

Hi all, I've been making homemade vinegar with Braggs as my starter. I've got a glass gallon drink dispenser so I can take some out without disturbing the mother between feedings.

But my problem: the vinegar has stopped forming a mother. I've been removing the mother when it got thicker and now I have no mother at all. Will the vinegar still ferment alcohol without the mother?  I think it stopped producing mother when I swapped alcohol but there is no indication of sulphates on the label.  I've been using liquors and diluting down to proper ratios with water. I've done a time or two just throwing a splash of undiluted alcohol in but never much.  I'm a few months into this venture and not really sure where I went wrong. I'm pretty bad at troubleshooting.

Attached pic is vinegar after adding new alcohol and stirring. This is stored in a closet to prevent sunlight.

Nathan, welcome to the forum.

Since it has been a week how is it doing?

Seems to me the vinegar will be just fine without the mother.

Fruit flies carry the bacteria that causes acetification. Any vitner or brewer can attest it only takes one to get the process rolling.

Hi thanks for responding. It doesn't seem to have changed much. There's a little less alcohol taste coming through than before so it may still be active but very slow.  And to Jordan, I'm using Braggs apple cider vinegar for the bacteria base since I'm living close to the city.  I want to get my sister to start her own vinegar since she lives near the farm we grew up on in Georgia. I'd love to taste the difference between mass produced aceto bacter and wild ones.