diff --git a/readme.md b/readme.md
index bcfba3ba..0fc6168a 100644
--- a/readme.md
+++ b/readme.md
@@ -127,6 +127,10 @@ MyOpenhabRule()
 ```
 
 # Changelog
+#### 23.09.2 (2023-09-24)
+- Made channel type on a ``Thing`` optional (#416)
+- Fixed an issue with mqtt publish and reconnect
+
 #### 23.09.1 (2023-09-18)
 - Log a warning for broken links between items and things
 - Fix CI
diff --git a/run/conf_testing/rules/test_mqtt.py b/run/conf_testing/rules/test_mqtt.py
index 94cd346b..ee1f78db 100644
--- a/run/conf_testing/rules/test_mqtt.py
+++ b/run/conf_testing/rules/test_mqtt.py
@@ -2,8 +2,8 @@
 import time
 
 import HABApp
+from HABApp.core.connections import Connections, ConnectionStatus
 from HABApp.core.events import ValueUpdateEventFilter
-from HABApp.mqtt.connection.handler import CONNECTION_HANDLER
 from HABApp.mqtt.events import MqttValueUpdateEventFilter
 from HABApp.mqtt.items import MqttItem, MqttPairItem
 from HABAppTests import EventWaiter, ItemWaiter, TestBaseRule, run_coro
@@ -63,21 +63,28 @@ def test_mqtt_item_creation(self):
         topic = 'mqtt/item/creation'
         assert HABApp.core.Items.item_exists(topic) is False
 
-        assert self.mqtt.publish(topic, 'asdf')
+        self.mqtt.publish(topic, 'asdf')
         time.sleep(0.1)
         assert HABApp.core.Items.item_exists(topic) is False
 
         # We create the item only on retain
-        assert self.mqtt.publish(topic, 'asdf', retain=True)
+        self.mqtt.publish(topic, 'asdf', retain=True)
+        time.sleep(0.2)
+
+        run_coro(self.trigger_reconnect())
 
-        # We need to reconnect to receive the message
-        connection = CONNECTION_HANDLER.plugin_connection
-        run_coro(CONNECTION_HANDLER.on_disconnected(connection, connection.context))
-        run_coro(CONNECTION_HANDLER.on_connecting(connection, connection.context))
         time.sleep(0.2)
+        connection = Connections.get('mqtt')
+        while not connection.is_online:
+            time.sleep(0.2)
         assert HABApp.core.Items.item_exists(topic) is True
 
         HABApp.core.Items.pop_item(topic)
 
+    async def trigger_reconnect(self):
+        connection = Connections.get('mqtt')
+        connection.status._set_manual(ConnectionStatus.DISCONNECTED)
+        connection.advance_status_task.start_if_not_running()
+
 
 TestMQTTEvents()
diff --git a/src/HABApp/__version__.py b/src/HABApp/__version__.py
index 545ab9b8..f87e0f46 100644
--- a/src/HABApp/__version__.py
+++ b/src/HABApp/__version__.py
@@ -10,4 +10,4 @@
 # Development versions contain the DEV-COUNTER postfix:
 # - 23.09.0.DEV-1
 
-__version__ = '23.09.1'
+__version__ = '23.09.2'
diff --git a/src/HABApp/mqtt/connection/connection.py b/src/HABApp/mqtt/connection/connection.py
index 44415ae9..74577778 100644
--- a/src/HABApp/mqtt/connection/connection.py
+++ b/src/HABApp/mqtt/connection/connection.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 import HABApp
 from HABApp.core.asyncio import AsyncContext
 from HABApp.core.connections import BaseConnection, Connections, ConnectionStateToEventBusPlugin, AutoReconnectPlugin
+from HABApp.core.connections.base_connection import AlreadyHandledException
 from HABApp.core.connections.base_plugin import BaseConnectionPluginConnectedTask
 from HABApp.core.const.const import PYTHON_310
 
@@ -67,5 +68,7 @@ async def _mqtt_wrap_task(self):
         try:
             with AsyncContext('MQTT'), connection.handle_exception(self.mqtt_task):
                 await self.mqtt_task()
+        except AlreadyHandledException:
+            pass
         finally:
             log.debug(f'{self.task.name} task stop')
diff --git a/src/HABApp/mqtt/connection/publish.py b/src/HABApp/mqtt/connection/publish.py
index a9a02907..00a47eaa 100644
--- a/src/HABApp/mqtt/connection/publish.py
+++ b/src/HABApp/mqtt/connection/publish.py
@@ -87,4 +87,4 @@ def publish(topic: Union[str, ItemRegistryItem], payload, qos: Optional[QOS] = N
     :param qos: QoS, can be 0, 1 or 2. If not specified the value from configuration file will be used.
     :param retain: retain message. If not specified the value from configuration file will be used.
     """
-    run_func_from_async(topic, payload, qos, retain)
+    run_func_from_async(async_publish, topic, payload, qos, retain)
diff --git a/src/HABApp/mqtt/connection/subscribe.py b/src/HABApp/mqtt/connection/subscribe.py
index 3356657f..338be40a 100644
--- a/src/HABApp/mqtt/connection/subscribe.py
+++ b/src/HABApp/mqtt/connection/subscribe.py
@@ -128,6 +128,12 @@ async def apply_subscriptions(self):
 
     async def on_connected(self):
         await super().on_connected()
+
+        # Since we are freshly connected we have not yet subscribed to anything
+        # We need to clear this here because in case of error it might still have the topics
+        # from the last successful subscription in this dict
+        self.subscribed_to.clear()
+
         self.sub_task.start_if_not_running()
         await self.sub_task.wait()