2-row is the most basic brewers malt, lightly kilned to 1.5-2.0°L. Only Pilsner malt is lighter. Pale Malt is slightly darker at 3-4°L, typically.
Briess 2-row ("Brewers Malt") is 1.8°L.
Briess Golden Light DME is 4°SRM (=3.5°L), so about twice as dark. It contains 1% Carapils.
If you want your color to be as
light as possible and you can buy it, use Pilsen Light DME.
But I wouldn't pay premium price or special order it. The difference won't be that significant, and disappears completely if the recipe contains a load of Crystal, Victory, etc.
After brewing, extract brews tend to be a little darker than their all-grain "equivalents" for some reason.
You should only boil with half your extract and add the balance at flameout. This keeps your wort lighter and better tasting too.
Though I doubt you'll be able to tell the difference, the 2 row called for in the recipe is presumably domestic 2-row so Briess would be the extract made from domestic malt. Muntons uses English malt. They are about the same lovibond (Briess listed at 4, Munton's light as 3-5L).
Exactly! There's a perceivable difference in flavor between Muntons and Briess because of the malt origin. I wouldn't sweat it, either will be fine. Again I wouldn't pay a dime extra for Muntons in an American IPA.