valsemøller

Valsemøller, in Danish, translates to roller mills, a class of milling equipment used to grind cereal grains by passing them between pairs of rotating rollers. A typical valsemølle consists of cleaning and conditioning equipment, multiple sets of parallel rollers, and sieving machinery to separate flour from bran and other fractions. Grain is conditioned by adjusting moisture, then fed between successive roller pairs. Each pair reduces particle size and increases extraction rate. Break rollers crack the kernels, then reduction rollers further grind to the desired particle size. Between stages, plansifters or sifters separate fractions by size and density; purifiers help remove bran from the flour stream, returning coarser fractions to earlier stages or to animal feed.

Historically, roller milling emerged in the 19th century as a mechanized alternative to stone milling, enabling higher throughput, tighter tolerances, and more uniform product quality. Modern valsemøller are typically powered by electric motors and controlled by automated systems to regulate feed rate, roller gap, and speed ratios. They are used in commercial grain milling to produce white flour, wholemeal flour through composite processes, and byproducts such as bran and middlings for animal feed.

In Danish contexts the term valsemølle may refer broadly to this technology, and may also appear as a brand name for flour products produced with roller-milling processes. The term is distinct from stone milling, which uses millstones to grind grain and tends to retain more of the bran and germ in the whole-grain flour, but with slower throughput and less uniform particle size.