Malt extract additions

I'm new to the brewing community and I have a question for you my fellow brewers.

I recently brewed a 5 gallon batch of "American IPA"

And I have a three gallon batch of the same beer in primary fermentation right now.

I have made one major adjustment to the recipe in this second batch though.

My first 5 gallon batch I did not add any malt extract to the wort. The final product had a very rich golden/orange color with a smooth citrusy flavor.

The three gallon batch I have fermenting now I did add a light pilsner malt extract and the color of the beer is much darker and the aroma resembles that of a typical IPA and it seems as though the finished product will be nothing like my first batch.

So my question is: how important is the addition of a malt extract?

It's really hard to say what effect that will have without knowing what your recipe or OG were. Your beer might be pretty watered down if you were supposed to add dme or lme and you didn't. I don't think we have enough info to make any conclusions.

I'm a little confused too. The malt extract is giving you the fermentables for the batch, or part of them if doing partial mash. If you didn't add the extract on your first batch, are you saying you mashed grain instead (not just steeped specialty grains)? As was stated we need the recipes to help you.

1 1/2 lbs. 2row
8 oz. CaraHell
8oz cara Viennese

Colombus hops for bittering

Cascade for aroma

Safale us-05

Batch 1- no malt extract

Batch two extra light liquid malt extract

The first batch. I followed instructions to mash the grain

What was your OG for the first batch? if you made 5 gallons with no malt extract and only those grains, that's going to be very watered down.

Yea it was similar too a light beer but really it had nice body it didn't seem watered down I already drank the first batch and after a few in a sitting I had a nice buzz. And was pleasantly satisfied with by the taste.

The second batch is still in primary and it's going well.
Thanks for the responses I'm looking forward to a more full bodied beer from the batch to come.

If that was a 5 gallon batch, assuming 75% efficiency and average attenuation I'm getting about 1.3 % ABV. So I'd probably call it a near beer or small beer. If you liked it that's what counts!
Welcome to the hobby!