@nurbit
I currently use a 47uF, 35V non-polarized electrolytic capacitor, a polarized electrolytic would not be really good (there is the AC component), but a non-polarized ceramic capacitor with the proper C*V values might work, definitely you should give it a try, an interesting experiment would be obtaining a pseudo "non-polarized" cap from two electrolytic wired in series, experiment and see what results you can get. The ESR readings should not be taken as an exact measurement, as ERS really varies with frequency, temperature, capacitance, one will rather use this device to compare two capacitors with same characteristics to see which has a lower ESR, or test if the selected capacitor has a low ESR value, don't get me wrong, the device produces some good readings but I had no possibility to compare it to a reference, the sub ohm (miliohm) measurement precision for pure resistive load is pretty good once calibrated 
@grant1842
I'm glad you can see some results there, keep trying and the device will work, it's not a very complicated schematic but is very rewarding once you get it going. (at least it was for me as I learned a lot building it). If there are questions and I have the answers I'll gladly help.
Keep us posted with the progress.