no mother vinegar

good morning permies, I have an other question about vinegar, last fall I made 5 gallons of hard cider, then we put it into a 8 gallon stainless steel "vat" I added 2 gallons of braggs vinegar to it to make sure it would get a good start, so.... 4 months later and I still have no mother started. it smells like vinegar..it tastes like vinegar...but i'm not sure I want to use it if it doesn't have a mother on it, I've even checked the bottom thinking maybe it fell.. no mother on the bottom either. any thoughts you would have on this would be great... thanks

My vinegars don't always form traditional looking mothers, which are like a lump of gelatin floating on the top of the jar. Sometimes, it's just a scum along the sides of the jar. Sometimes it's just a delicate scum on the surface.

If it tastes like vinegar, and smells like vinegar, then I'm going to use it like vinegar.