Dawn, If you are having trouble keeping your mother of vinegar alive and active you should feed it! vinegar is not its food, it is the waste product of the mother bacteria. Giving it more room to grow without food is not going to help much. The dirty little secret is that she is a alcoholic she lives to break ethanol [ethyl alcohol] down to acetic acid. The best food for ACV is hard apple cider but she will drink just about anything, wine, beer or even hard booze. you just have to be sure there are no preservetives and if using booze not too much because too strong a solutiom of alcohol will kill her. Once she has been fed a little fresh air is needed, if half of the jar is head space the air will keep her alive for slow growth. If you want faster growth give her more air and "feed'.
I know this because i spent a year of my youth in a natural ACV plant.
I know this because i spent a year of my youth in a natural ACV plant.