When do you trim your SCOBYs and clean your jars?

I've been brewing Kombucha in two 3 quart sun tea jars for a little over a year. I try to stay with the same brands of black and green tea, same sugar, same tea to sugar ratio scaled up and down as fit.

Within the past few months my Kombucha hasn't been as good as it was early. I'm starting to get into beer brewing and read about autolysis (dead yeast that can cause taste issues in your beer). I'm thinking maybe I need to trim my scoby more often (it doesn't really spawn babies, just more layers) and clean out the jar more often (every 2-3 3 week brew cycles)

My question to the forum: When do you trim back your SCOBYs and clean your jars?

I've never heard "trim back" before, but I'd recommend every 2-3 times your brew. Personally, I clean my SCOBY and my vessel every single time. Pour some kt into a clean sanitized pot, wash your hands in it thoroughly for about 15 seconds, put your SCOBY in there, peel off the top layer, dump the rest, and rub away any dead yeast colonies (the dark stringy stuff) before putting it into the next batch.