Vinegar is not a very potent acid or a very strong acid, it is also an organic acid (carbon based) basically something I would not use to dissolve gold.
Will it dissolve gold if mixed with other chemicals, yes it can also dissolve many other metals.
we could probably make hundreds of different chemical concoctions to dissolve gold or other metals, but just because we can create chemical reactions in them does not make them a good candidate to recover or refine our metals in, especially our valuable metals like gold.
some else may argue with me and say that it works so why not use it, well just because we can make something work somewhat does not necessarily make it a good idea or effective.
I will go a step beyond and say to try and recover or even refine metals using vinegar is not just a bad idea, but a stupid idea, and a dangerous one at that.
Not only are you messing with an organic acid something I would not want mixed with gold, but you have a very good potential of losing gold in the carbon based solution as a gold compounds.
You also have the potential of making some very toxic metal solutions, and even the possibility of making some dangerous metal salts or compounds, unknowingly in some of your processes.
HCl is easy to get and cheap, it can also be made at home fairly easily.
Why anyone in their right mind that had any idea of what they were doing would use vinegar to dissolve gold is beyond me, all I can think is they read it, from someone who did not know what they were doing, and were just following them, like dumb sheep following each other off the side of a cliff.
We can dissolve gold with several different chemicals or acids, the hard part is oxidizing the gold.
We can make chlorine gas, hypochlorite or hypochlorous acid with many different combinations of chemical or salts, and acids, but just because we can oxidize gold and get it to go into solution, does not necessarily mean it is a good idea or something we should be using, especially if you do not understand the chemistry of what your trying to do or know or have any idea of what kinds of other chemical reactions could occur.
Just because vinegar has hydrogen in its compound which makes it acidic, does not make it a good acid to use to dissolve gold, or other metals.
Vinegar and salt can make a carbon based solution which contains HCl acid, So what, we can make HCl several other ways, just because we can generate a little HCl does not make it good to use for gold.
Bleach and vinegar will generate some hypochlorous acid (chlorine gas dissolved in water), chlorine gas Cl2, and sodium acetate, acetic acid, sodium chloride, oxygen, along with others in an organic carbon based compound. this does not mean just because we have chemical or compounds that can oxidize gold that it is a good idea to do so with them.
Some reactions of bleach and vinegar:
4NaOCl + 4 CH3COOH --> 2Cl2 + + O2 + 4CH3COONa + 2H2O
Chlorine gas, and oxygen can oxidize the gold in the sodium acetate solution.
Any lead in this solution dissolve into a very toxic compound.
What are you doing with these deadly gases and poisons you are making?
Are you destroying your health and poisoning your children or your neighbors with it unknowingly?
Another reaction with bleach and vinegar:
NaClO + CH3COOH --> CH3COONa + HOCl
Again sodium acetate and this time with Hypochlorous acid
Yes an oxidizer for gold in an organic compound. So what?
2NaOCl + 2CH3COOH --> 2CH3COOH + 2NaCl +O2
acetic acid salt and oxygen, which can also be used in combination with the other reactions above to oxidize or put gold into solution. but also with other metals also becomes some dangerous compounds...
As far as the stannous chloride not working I do not see why it would not work, I have never used vinegar but i do not see much of any reason why stannous would not work to test for gold in solution if used. That is if you did have gold in solution, and could get it back easily out of solution.
Possible reasons I can see why the stannous would not work is the gold is no longer in solution as gold ions, then the stannous chloride would not work. The gold is not dissolved gold ions, but gold metal atoms locked up as a gold compounds chemically in the carbon based concoction.
if tin (from solder) was in the metals which also were dissolved, the gold is no longer gold ions, but atoms of colloidal gold locked up in solution in the carbon based mess, most likely along with lead acetate from the solder of the electronic scrap dissolved it this toxic mess. which your gold becomes almost impossibly difficult to get back out of this mess.
We could go on and on discussing the possible problems, but what good would that do you? It would not help you with learning to do it safely and effectively, and help you learn to recover, and then learn to refine your gold, for that I suggest putting away any vinegar or other acids and not play with the chemicals until you learn how to use them safely and effectively, for that my friend we must all study if we wish to learn to do it right.
Spend your time studying what we have discussed so far, and the suggested material, then when you have a question of what your studying, let us discuss that, so we can get you on your way to learning how to, not just discussing how not to dissolve and recover your gold.
I spend a lot of time trying to help newcomers wishing to learn this, that is something I enjoy, but most of them (the majority do not really wish to learn, they just want a quick answer to very complicated problems, and if the answer is not what they want to hear, or they think they have to work and study to learn, many of them just give up, and just go on to watch some you tube idiot and follow them off the cliff making deadly poisons they know nothing about. That is very frustrating to me, and makes me wonder if I am not just wasting my time trying to help new members.
Then there are the very few that will take the good advice and study to learn.
Those that do usually end up teaching me what they learn, and that makes helping worth the trouble we go to.
I just hope you are one of those few individuals that is not afraid of a little bit of work to learn, spending your time in study, I cannot tell you how much you will gain from your study, not only financially from gold with your study, all I can tell you is that it is the treasure map to your gold, without it you are just wandering blindly in a dark desert looking for gold, a very dangerous situation to be in.
With education and understanding your not out there looking for gold (blindly), you will know where it is and how to get it.
So put away your acids and chemicals. get out the books, or just head back out into the darkness of that desert to blindly look for gold, wondering where it went after you think you found some.
It is my hope you chose the education and learn so we can both learn more together.